For all those interested in a closed loop I would have to recomend the Oceans Motions 4 way. It is a flow diverter that creats changing flow pattern in the tank. It does require a bit of plumbing but pays dividens in the long run for flow pattern. It retails around $350.00 . I would rate the product an A
I would agree, I have an 8 way with a hammerhead pump on my 400 and a 4 way with a barracuda pump for my demolished 200. Maybe I'll be able to use it some day.
Norman, on the 4way what is the plumbing dimensions for the outlets? I have a sequence 750 Basicly a suped up dart it uses more watts 180 vr 160 but pumps about 500 gallons an hour more. I went with 1.5" into the 4way and 1" discharges into the tank...I also used some pvc 45 fittings to adjust my flow coming out of the four bulkhead fittings.
the pump has 1 1/2 in and 1 1/2 out, going to 1 1/2 into the 4 way and out to 4- 1" returns. Hope this is what you are talking about. The pump is a baldor sequence barracuda. The flow rates are on the sequence site and it is working at 0 head because it's on a closed loop.
ok teach me something here. i thought head was the amout of water/liquid the pump could push a certain distance measured in gallons per hour (gph). am i mistaken? the reason i ask is because i'm am going to be setting up a sump before to long and am trying to figure out what i need for the pump. sorry for hijacking your post scubadog.
Most pumps in the aquaium industry are measured in gallons per hour, some of the giant pumps at the plant are in gallons per minuit for industral uses. Then you have head pressure, each pump will be rated a head pressure in feet. For exampple a sequence dart will have a head pressure of around 14 to 16 feet...thats the verticle distance that it can pump water straight up in the air. When choosing a pump you will want to see the pump curve. its a measurement cuve on head pressure verses flow rate. For example a sequence dart the flow rate is 3600 gallons per hour at 0 head pressure. at six feet of head pressure the flow rate will fall off to around 2200 gallons per hour (a guess) Reef central has a nice calculator on how to calculate the head pressure of ones tank.
Most of the pumps you see for sale will list their GPH at 4' of head which is a pretty typical head for a reef tank. Here is the link for the reef central calculator. http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php
i finally got to where i could put a sump under my 29. it will only be 10 gallons but it is going to have to be pumped back up and over the top of my tank. i have a mag 7 already that will be WAY to much if i don't govern it down some, but do you think that will do the trick?
Depends on what size drain your using to the sump, A one inch drain can handel a mag7. I would also consider a mag5 as well. Is the 29 drilled for a drain or are you going to use a siphon overflow system?
siphon overflow. i have a mag 7 already that i was using on a closed loop with a squid which i ditched after the move. i have been reading that i can put a ball valve on the output of the pump and throttle it back some.
I used a mag 5 in a planted tank with a sump as the only sorce of flow and it worked nicely. In a small reef that size that would be suficent to turnover water for skimming, heating, fuge flow through, etc, but you will need to have some other source of circulation. The mag 7 will give you the option to get just a little closer to the flow limit of most "standard" 1" drain siphon overflows, but you will have to keep a valve on it. I say that becasuse thos "standard" overflow boxes I am talking about are usually rated at only 600 GPH. With that said, I was able to run a Marineland SOS siphon overflow with a mag 7 wide open on my fuge for a long time. It seemed like the little bit of extra flow helped keep the bubbles flushed out of the siphon tube... :?
as far as flow goes i'm planning on keeping my 2 maxi-jet 900's in there and the remora skimmer is to tall to hang on the sump so it will have to stay in the tank as well. but i want to move the heater and have a fuge. and probably move the canister filter lines to down there as well. i will then put the overflow box for the remora back on it to try and clean up the appearance of the tank a bit.
Can you raise your sump up by sitting it on a couple of blocks of wood to get it high enough to hang the skimmer?
Or another idea would be to extend the hose from the pump so it can rest on the bottom of the sump with the skimmer. Kind of like an urchin skimmer?
only problem with that is it has tabs on the bottom of it to make it level while it is hanging on the side of the tank. so they would have to be cut off and therefore never be able to hang on the back again.
