? on temp flo/ Barracuda down & out X3

[Martin's Reef]

Know that I have you all confused! I need to take my Barracuda pump down to MDM tomorrow so they can replace the motor (Again) This time they are replacing it not just repairing it. My question is that I have this pump on the main line so all filtration is pushed buy this pump. I have a hammerhead on my closed loop. Can I just keep my closed loop going and not have my main line running? It will take me about 1.5 hours down .5-1 hour for Lewis @ MDM to put a new motor on it and 1.5 hours back so roughly 4-5 hours with just the closed loop running. Should I shut down the closed loop and put the hammerhead on the main line?
What would you do?

Any advice wouls be helpful.
Thanks,
Martin

 

[artful-dodger]

Are your heaters in the sump or the main tank? If they're in the sump, then I'd suggest moving them to the main tank so it doesn't cool down.

Anything in the sump that needs water flow (bio-balls? refugium?) Perhaps you can add a powerhead to the sump to keep it moving and oxygenated? Are your closed loop outlets on loc-lines? Adjust them to move water to any dead spots made by the loss of the main returns and keep the surface moving.

If you have a ozone, calcium reactor or kalk drip going into the sump, I think you'd want to shut them down or move the controller probes into the sump as well.

How much water does your tank evaporate per day? If it is extremely high, you might want to shut down some lights and fans while your sump is disconnected to slow it for those few hours.

Can't think of anything else...

 

[Martin's Reef]

I have one heater in the tank and one in the sump.
I can add a power head or two to the refugium.
Ca reactor and skimmer can be shut down.
I lose about 4 gallons of water a day due to evaporation. so I guess I can turn my light off untill I get home.!? I will just run my actinics.

Thanks for the help.
Martin

 

[jdallred]

Martin, being that we are talking about 300 gallons of water, your tank should be stable enough to shut off the return pump leaving just the CL running.
For the display it sounds like heat, flow, and oxygen are covered. For the fuge the addition of a powerhead will cover flow and oxygen and heat is already covered.
I would leave your lights on (as normal) over the 300 as 4 gallons of evap a day will not cause a substantial fluctuation in salinity not to mention you are only planning on it being 4-5 hrs (less then a gallon of evap).