Holy crud! Flow ideas

[jason the filter freak]

Ok ok, I'm scared about tempature! I want to avoid using power heads in my tank, therefor I'm using a closed loop system to create all my flow. I have laying around 2 mag 7's and a mg 24. I have to use one for my skimmer, one was going to be used for a return from a sump, and the last was going to be used the 24 for a closed loop system using a unique manifold system.... I wonder should I use a diffrent kind of pump to deal with back preassure, and head loss, should i buy a diffrent pump to maybe ?? Run internal? External? Do i need to put up drawings? or should i just explain or did I give enough to go off of? Also I'm extremely limited in budget, Can't spend anymore than say $150 on a pump

Edited December 13, 2006 by jason the filter freak

[bigJPDC]

FWIW, I used a Mag 9.5 external for my CL, and am happy with the noise level and flow as well. I would think that the 24 would give you a jacuzzi!

 

 

jp

 

Forgot to add that I think the first question should be - how big is the tank and what is your plan for number of outlets, plumbing diameter, etc.

[jason the filter freak]

I've never seen you on the boards before but you have something similar to what I was going to do with the manifold, have something like what you have there at the bottom of my tank to create bottom up flow, then have some variations at the top of a similar structure to get a nice over all flow in the tank. I was thinking the mag 24 because I am going to have the pump sitting 4 feet below the waters surface, plus dealing with alot of back preassure with submerging the out puts. I was considering having rather small half inch PVC going into the tank in a branching pattern each branch controlled by a gate, or most likely a ball valve. The 24 would also come in handy here for the loss of flow due to having alot of 90 and 45 degree bends. ... any more imput any one...? The tank is a 55 gallon. I also want to make point of reffrence here for sound tolerance. I'm sleeping in the same room as my tank. So I need pretty low noise output

[bigJPDC]

Hey Jason - I've been posting on that other fish board the past year or so, new to VA and WAMAS.

 

This CL is designed to provide flow to the lower parts of the tank, sand and rock, my return goes to a SeaSwirl to get the rest of the water column moving. It is all 1/2" down and in the tank, but 3/4" hose before that. No worries about 90 and 45 degree bends if you use hose, and a ton quieter. I fought with my CL design for a while before I switched to the hose and didn't even bother with a ball valve. It's a straight Melev copy except for the outlets being at the sand level.

 

I will be redirecting the outlets to form a circular flow around the tank permineter, like what you do with a pool. I'm interested to see how you put yours together. If you were going to sleep in the same room, I'd focus on soundproofing whatever you put the pump in, since there will be noise from that and other equipment.

 

jp

[Scott_LM]

Jason,

 

You do not have to equate the 4 feet of head when thinking of a closed loop(at least not unless you want to get real technical). The drop from the intake side cancels out the vertical rise on the output. The only head loss there is from friction from PVC walls. You will want to make sure your intake is much larger diameter PVC and reduce it right before the pump.

 

I like the idea of bottom up, but make sure you have some flow control (valves) or experiment first. The Mag 24 may be able to blow water right out of the tank point up.

 

Scott

[jason the filter freak]

I'm really likeing the imput I'm getting here and flow control is soemthing i certianly intend to have

[zmalexander]

I'm setting up my 58g, and had planned to do a Melev type closed loop, but after seeing the substrated buried closed loop, I'm definately going that direction. I've got a MAG 9.5 I'll hook up to it, but I'm also planning on putting a SCWD inline to vary the flow a bit. Thanks for the pics!!

 

By the way, where did you get the black PVC?

 

Zac

[bigJPDC]

Hey Zac - thanks for the comments! I actualy had a Melev CL built and tested, then saw the underground spider at an LFS in Leesburg and redid everything that weekend. On a bigger tank you could move the outlets farther in from the glass and shield them with live rock so the viewer would have no clue. I have them positioned just far enough in to allow the mag float to clean behind them, and the outlets are not glued so I can turn them or replace with different parts.

 

The black is just some plastic spray paint, I forgot which kind but I think it is not the Krylon fusion. Recently I've noticed some specks have been chipped off so I wonder if the snails or CBB are pecking at it when they clean.

 

The best part now that I have circular flow is when I feed a cube of mysis and watch the CBB chase the food around and around the rock as the flow takes it. He's getting smart now though, he waits in the front for it to get blown at him instead like a grizzly at the salmon stream, which is also fun to watch. There was some debate when I was building it that all the nozzles wouldn't fire, but they rock. Food doesn't have a chance of settling on this substrate.

 

good luck, post pics when you build your CL out.

 

jp

Edited December 18, 2006 by bigJPDC