I am in the process of setting up a 65g 36*18*25 tank with a 40g breeder and a 15-20 gallon refugium within my canopy. I been juggling some ideas to increase the flow in my tank and at the same time minimizing or even doing away with wave maker in all. Now keep in mind that I am a new reefer with that being said... Lol help!!! Attach it's a quick scketch of my tank set up.
Return set up
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Dtackett
Valuable Member
if you want to remove all powerheads you can do something like a closed loop system which uses an external pump to provide the main flow for the tank but requires drilling to be done properly although ive seen a few setup with pvc hanging over the back, or if your return pump is strong enough you can run a SCWD setup.
I'll have to run both top returns and both middle return together but I think that will work great. I am getting about 500gph at the middle return highted and around 450gph at the top returns. Maybe even a bit more.
Dtackett
Valuable Member
theyre great devices but have a major weekpoint. they can clog up over time if your sump doesn't filter out all the gunk. I have seen them ran as part of a closed loop system though. external pump hooked up directly to one of the bulkheads feeding the scwd at 1000+ gph with a dense sponge filter on the intake side of the bulkhead. doing this seemed to work really well, create a ton of flow, a natural looking flow (the ocean doesn't switch directions every 2 seconds like a lot of wavemakers try to) and prevents wavemakers from being in your tank. ive seen some very nice tanks with these setup.
