Where and how many? Lost in plumbing

Homer Allman · Jul 16, 2015

I've studied, looking at pictures and videos, but still seem a bit lost on my tanks plumbing. Here's what I think I know. Success starts with good flow and turn over. I'm putting together a 300 gallon acrylic tank with a 125 gallon sump/fuge. I want to start with a closed loop system recirculating the water in the tank from bottom to the top. I realize this will take a separate pump from the open loop going from the DT to the sump. So my questions are as follows. Do I run the same flowed rate pumps on both loops, if not should I have a bigger pump on one loop than the other. And the biggest question is where do I drill all these holes to my it a good flowing system. My goal would be to have enough flow to limit power heads. Is this even possible? Thank you for your time. Needing Mario and Luigi...Please

AZDesertRat · Jul 16, 2015

When I first set up my current 5 foot, 100G mixed reef I installed a closed loop. The suction was in the back, down low and near center with two discharges, one in each upper rear corner. I used a Ocean Runner 3500 pump I had at the time and the return went through an Oceans Motions Squirt two way current switching device. The closed loop can be any flow rate you choose and has nothing to do with the return flow from the sump.

What I have found over the years though was I used much less power with powerhead/wavemakers and got a much better random flow, especially with the newer controllable types such as Tunze, Jebao and similar. Since the pump runs 24/7/365 I reduced my power consumption from 64 watts for 1000 GPH flow to 10-30 watts for more like 5,000 GPH with small WP-25 wavemakers. They really are not that noticable once they are coated with coralline algae. I kept my Squirt but now have it plumbed to my return pump so the flow switches from end to end via dual returns.

Homer Allman · Jul 17, 2015

Thank you so much for replying. I appreciate you taking the time to give me a little insight. So the two loops will be more about water movement to avoid dead spots and a power head or wave maker will help keep the water moving inside the DT.

AZDesertRat · Jul 17, 2015

Really a closed loop and powerheads serve the same purpose, circulation within the display. The advantage of the powerheads/wavemakers is they draw much less power per gallon pumped than a closed loop, the disadvantage is they are in the display. A closed loop does the same thing but uses an external pump and drilled holes with bulkheads which almost always draws much more power but the advantage is all you have in the tank is a suction strainer and some returns, like LocLines. I also found my large closed loop pumps added more heat to the system than efficient powerheads/wavemakers. And new wavemakers are much much smaller than even a couple years ago and many are programmable for nice random flows. I have gone from the old Maxijets to Seios to Sicce Voyagers to Koralias to Evolutions to Jebao WP's and may try the RW series one day which is even smaller and more efficient.

Fin · Jul 18, 2015

As far as drilling holes goes, it is possible to return from the bottom (with a closed loop system) without drilling any holes at all. I didn't want to drill the bottom of my 140, so I ran black PVC down the back wall (against a black tank background) at each rear corner of the tank and then routed them toward the front of the glass, under the sand bed. 45° fittings pointing upward, toward the overflows.

I used an OceansMotions 4way valve and also have lines returning to the 2 front corners. Here is a picture of when I was playing with the idea. The bottom outlets shown is not what I ended up with, I just didn't take pictures after I changed it. I did not split the bottom outlets. I ended up just running a single outlet to the lower front corners and then covered them with sand. But you can get the idea of what I did and only drilled the one hole in the back for the closed loop intake.

I covered the 45° bottom outlets with rock rubble and hot glue (the tank is now 9 years old and the rubble is still in place and covered with GSPs on one side). This is how it looked when I finished installing the closed loop. The intake on the back wall (I have a smaller screen on it now), the two front upper returns (using the OceansMotions Omni-Flex Nozzles (love these), and the two front bottom returns, just poking up out of the sandbed. This is the way it has run since 1996.

Anyway, just one person's way of doing it. Every tank is different. Just depends on what you want.

AZDesertRat · Jul 21, 2015

A closed loop can enter and exit the tank from anywhere since it is just that, closed, and will not siphon out when power is lost. the only drawback of bottom drilled or lower drilled is you must have valves installed for maintenance and if a valve or fitting leaks you must drain the system to repair/replace it. I prefer to keep holes, bulkheads and plumbing in the upper third or so of the tank so you should never have to drain any more than that even in an emergency. My Son had a bottom drilled 180 that had leaks and it was a royal PITA in my opinion and could have been better thought out in the beginning.