Anyone have info on motorized ball valves?

[Kendall]

I am in the planning stage of my new 550 gal tank, 96L"x40D"x34H. I am trying to figure out how to do my closed loop. I am going to use either a Dolphin or Sequence high flow pump. The return line will be tee'd to either side of the tank. From there I will have a manifold running from front to back with 3 or 4 outputs. I would like to use a motorized ball valves to switch flow from the left then from the right side, to simulate currents. I will have 2 outputs at 45 degree angles running contiuously in the middle of the tank(I haven't figured that out yet).

Can anyone give info on this set-up?

Also what would be a good, quiet pump of about 5000gph?

Thanks

 

[suckair]

I looked at the cost of motorized ball valves and decided that I would just purchase more pumps and control them on timers ect. I figured that way I would have redundant pumps incase of failure and the cost was about the same.

Those little suckers are expensive. I have had to rely on the other pump a few times in the past 3 years and I am glad I designed the system that way.

PS works best on closed loop setups. I had to use check valves to prevent back flow. The check vavles work well when they are used all the time and the pumps are turning on and off. It helps keep the seat clean so they seal well.

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
Do a search on "actuated ball valve" on this and other forums should yeild you a ton of info. This issue had came up many time in the past already. Check out www.rockycanyon.com. If I remember correctly, there are some info on the author's setup.

Cost seems to be a good excuse, but last time when I posted a sale ad here and the newsgroup for 3 slightly used setups at 25% of the retail price, I was only able to get one person to reply (who did brought a setup from me).

 

[ger]

Hey Kendall, I am also in the process of designing/setting up at large tank. Mine is about 500G. I am also playing with the idea of alternating the return left to right. So far I haven't figured it out though. I may go with two of the new Tunze pumps to simulate the back and forth current. My sump will be in the basement and I have a Dolphin HHS5000 as a return pump. I had quite a few people recommend it to me. How are you going to set up the rest of your system. What lighting are you going to use with this depth of tank? You can e-mail at [email protected]
Talk to later. Gary

 

[Kendall]

Being a landscaper I should have thought of this sooner. I found electric irrigation valves for $13.00. The timer costs $40.00. They do not have 3 way valves so I will need 2 regular valves. Here is my idea so far.

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
The use of irrigation valves was also discussed to various length in this and other forum, and my opinion can be summerized as follow:

1, need to replace brass and non-saltwater safe components
2, does not rated for high duty cycle, but they may still have a sufficient life to be useful. Actuated ball valve are rated at 20%-60% duty cycle, and can be turned millions of times without the lose of performance.
3, some irrigation valve are not NSF approved, but I use outdoor plumbing parts in my tank without any noticeable problem...

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know where you are located, but I was recently at NY Aquaria just north of NYC and all their tanks use sequence pumps with motorized ball valves. You might talk to them...

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
This is the complete URL to the link I mentioned above.
http://www.rockcanyon.com/reef/flow.htm

 

[Jeff Hood]

I use motorized ball valves by Hayward and I love them. They have been completly reliable for the last 10 months and still running strong. I have two on two seperate closed loops switching every 45 to 60 seconds.

Here is a pic. of my setup. Don't run more than one valve per wave strip timer as you will promply burn up the timer. You will need one timer for each valve. The motor uses just under 100 watts of power when turning and the timer was rated at 100 watts. I now use two timers and no problems in the last 8 months.

Jeff

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
Jeff, have you ever think about swaping the two middle outlets so that when the ball valve turns, the difference in flow pattern will be more diverse? I guess since now that you glued the pipe, it is too late for this minor change...

 

[Jeff Hood]

Actually if you look on my website and study the internal pipe structure of the loop, you will see it is very diverse.

The one on the left is higher and to the rear of my 40 inch deep aquarium and pushes current across the back of the tank. The second pipe is closer to the front and lower and shoots across the front half of the tank. Each circuit has about 4 to 5 one inch outputs.
The other closed loop on the right side of the tank is built to complement the other side.
The two timers that cycle the valves are not in sync and so I get an infinate number of combinations and timings.
The benifit I notice is I don't really see and dead spots in the tank where a lot of detritus accumulates.

Just my observations. I have already thought of getting larger pumps than these AM 3000s. Maybe 4600s

Jeff

 

[michaelross6]

Kendall:

I've used motorized ball valves on a 720 gallon reef for about 7 years now. I have found them reliable and durable. I control mine with Tsunami wave maker.

The pumps are two Iwaki 100RT plumbed in parallel for a total of 4000 gph intial output. I tried using low-pressure pumps but the returns ate up too much flow due to friction loss.

I would also strongly suggest you use a closed circuit system instead of the sump. IMO, trying to have enough flow for a surge for a 500 gallon reef would over-tax the overflow and creat quite a bit of bubbles in the sump. In the tank I built, I use perforated piping placed under the live rock, running to the pumps unde the tanks, then back into the tank through some Lok-Line tubing.
The valves were purchased from Ryan Herco. They are called Electromni Electrically Actuated Ball Valves. In my experience, you can't kill them with a stick, though getting a Nerite snail in the ball pathway is rather damaging <G>.
As others have mentioned, they are pricey, but they seemingly last forever. Mine have been cycling on about 35 second intervals this whole time.

FWIW,

Mike

 

[SPC]

Posted by Michaelross6:

though getting a Nerite snail in the ball pathway is rather damaging <G>.

What do you do when this happens Michael?
Steve

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
That's why I put plastic mesh to prevent the snail from getting inside the close loop.

The tube worms grow inside the plumbing, but they just get crushed by the valve ball...

In Mike situation, my guess is that the gear box will make lots of noise, until the motor stops, or the snail dislodged.

 

[michaelross6]

Steve:

What did I do?

I cussed alot <G>.

I used screen on the intake of the suction side, but there was a gap. Those nerite snails are strong. That happened on my home tank. The 720 is in a carwash, and the valves have never had any problems. Of course, there are no nerite snails in that tank <G>.

The valve didn't make any racket. It twisted the valve stem (about 5/8" of PVC) almost completely around. The motor is VERY strong. The motor still worked after it cooled down, but the valve body had to be replaced.

Mike

 

[SPC]

Posted by Mike:

It twisted the valve stem (about 5/8" of PVC) almost completely around. The motor is VERY strong. The motor still worked after it cooled down, but the valve body had to be replaced.

-Thanks for the info Mike, I had never stopped to consider what might happen in this situation.
Steve

 

[King Jason]

There is one for sale in the "For Sale" section. Go grab it quickly!