Woohooo, I think I'm upgrading!

[Deuce67]

Caleb, it was great meeting you yesterday. Hopefully you will be able to put those rocks to good use. But we do need some pics of the new BIG tank LOL! Are you gonna drill it for a close loop?

 

[Caleb Kruse]

Ok no pics of the tank yet because its filled with cloudy water to make it easier to scrape this green algae that like coraline off the back. I whipped up a diagram on excel of what my tank looks like. (sorry for the wrong proportions)

 

[ReefJerk]

Caleb, can we get a pic of the equipment under the stand, at least? That is quite a deal for the price!!! The 2 Hammerheads alone would have pushed you past what you paid. You lucky little pup...

 

[calvin415]

Here's what I would do to increase surface filtration and still use the existing holes...

 

[Caleb Kruse]

Thanks for the help Eric. The way the guy who previously had the tank set up was having both hammerheads for the closed loop, and two mag-9.5s being the return pumps. What does the flow from the bottom do for me?
Thanks

 

[calvin415]

The flow from the bottom will give you circulation in the lower parts of the tank without having to drop in powerheads or try to hit the bottom from the top. If you want two hammerheads for the CL, I'd recommend drilling some more holes for returns. How thick is the acrylic?

 

[Caleb Kruse]

The acrylic is 1/2". How hard is that to drill? I think I might want it lower flow on the bottom, so I can keep all my LPS like my frogspawn in low flow areas. Where would you have more returns if I used both hammerheads for a closed loop. Would it be good to do it like russ, and have them come from the top, or more areas on the back. What do you think the advantages and disadvanteges of having two hammerheads for the CL?
Thanks for the help

 

[calvin415]

With it being 30" high and only 1/2" acrylic, I'm not sure you'll want to drill too many more holes in the tank... Closed Loop returns can go anywhere really but due to the acrylic thickness, I would recommend only doing more returns through the bottom or top. The advantages of more pumps is simple, more flow, but more flows required more holes (typically) and with 1/2" acrylic, it's a little thin to turn a tank into swiss cheese for flow. Just to compare, I've only got 1 Dart on a CL and 1 Dart on the return on my Dad's 225 (60x36x24 built out of 3/4")

 

[ReefJerk]

I agree with Eric about the thickness of the acrylic. I wouldn't take any chances with 200+ gallons of water pushing on 1/2" inch acrylic that's had it's structural integrity compromised. If you're looking to put both of the Hammers on the CL(which is just thrilling to me), you could always do a CL manifold around the lip of the tank. As long as you're not concerned with the plumbing showing, that would work. Man, that would be some nice flow!!!

I'll post of pic of mine to show you what I mean.

 

[ReefJerk]

Just for reference:

 

[Caleb Kruse]

Do you think it would be a good idea to do what cliff did. Heres what I'm thinking if I did that. I would have the 6 holes on top be returns from Hammerhead 1, and then have the pvc around the top be the returns from Hammerhead 2, and the 3, or 4 if I decide to drill another hole would return from the sump. I would have to figure out where the sump overflow would be then.

What is a calfo overflow?