Best Circulation for 300G SPS tank?

[Anonymous]

As many of you know, I am in the planning stages of a new 300G SPS tank that I will be building over the next 6 - 8 months. There are many options available for circulation. I want to do it right the first time.

The tank will be built-in. 8' long by 30" front to back. I haven't decided on height yet. It'll be somewhere between 24 and 30" tall. I am going to make the opening in the drywall on the family room side about a foot (or maybe two) less than the overall length. This way overflow compartments won't be visible from the main viewing area.

I'm looking for suggestions for maximum flow! I don't really care about cost. I just want the proper flow for SPS.

So what would be best, a couple of Tunze with the fancy controller, sea swirls on a closed loop, wave2K, etc, etc.?

gimme yer suggestions!

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I just helped a friend set up a 260. We used two little giant pumps, rated at 2000 GPH going into a manifold to three SQWDs. There are six jets in the tank and the turbulance is awesome.

 

[Anonymous]

My last tank was almost the same dimentions, not quite as much front to back room though.

I prefer 2 swirls on return, with a pair of tunzes on each end, that'll give nice random turbulence when they oppose the swirls.

I'm not a big fan of closed loops, unless you have a sump room behind the tank, they do add a LOT of plumbing...

 

[Anonymous]

Mega, there is a "sump room" behind the tank. It's actually my office. The whole room will be dedicated to the tank, except my desk should remain. I want to leave the back clear so that it's viewable from both sides. I plan on putting rock in the middle of the tank only. There will be sand bed all around. I'm not going to let rock touch any glass at all. I want plenty of room for fish to swim and room for coral to grow. I may even make it two separate reef structures with a path in between. Circulation should be very good with no dead spots.

I don't really want to do a closed loop if maximum fow can be acheived in another way that has passed the test of time in other reefers expereince. If I do do a closed loop (heh, he said do do) the holes will have to be drilled on the sides of the tank on both sides. The room is 9'-8" wide, so I'll have 10" on each side to work with. I'd rather have this area clear. I'm planning to make the stand 6" oversized all the way around so I can stand on it when working in the tank.

Snapper, what does SQWDs stand for, seaswirls?

Louey

 

[manderbe]

Louey,

Take a look at www.reeftec.com, I personally do not have any experiance with this product. However, from what some of my fellow reefers have experianced, it is a great circulation device.

Best Regards

MDA

 

[ChrisRD]

Snapper, what does SQWDs stand for, seaswirls?

It's sortof a poor man's version of a motorized ball valve.

Inland Reef has them on this month's powerbuy:
http://www.inlandreef.net/scswcuwadi.html

I think the Tunze/Reeftec products look great. Seems like a very energy efficient way to get lots of flow. The only drawbacks to them, like powerheads is that you have to look at them in your tank, and the noise they may add.

I'm not sure about the Tunze/Reeftec units but I've noticed that regular powerheads add a substantial amount of noise to my tanks. I'm currently running both a closed loop AND powerheads on my tank, and if I put my ear to the glass and start unplugging powerheads, it amazes me how loud they are underwater. When they are all off it sound very quiet in there. With even one on, the noise level seems several times louder.

The closed loop, despite being a much bigger pump that's moving a lot more water is adding much less noise/vibration to the environment within the tank. Not sure if this really matters or not, but the idea of increased noise and vibration in the tank doesn't seem like a good thing.

 

[King Jason]

I have a closed loop for the majority of my circulation. I used an AmpMaster 3000 for my closed loop and an AmpMaster 2100 for sump return. I think I have very good circulation in my tank. But like some have said a closed loop adds a lot of plumbing. Personally plumbing doesn't bother me because I like setting up the tank (plumbing and all).

The main reason I didn't go with a Tunze's is because I didn't want any electric devices in my display tank. I HATED having Maxijets in my old tanks because I would have to clean them every month or so. I also didn't want to have any ugly powerheads in the tank. But I noticed that you said you were going to hide your overflows with some of the cutout of the wall. You could also extend this "cutout" and cover up a few Tunze's. Then you would not have to look at them and would only have to clean them.

IMO, it's a hard choice between using Tunzes or a closed loop (maybe 2 AmpMaster 3000's in your case) with Seaswirles. If you can cover the Tunze's up and don't mind cleaning them every month or so I would go with the Tunzes. They are energy efficient, produce a lot of current, have a pretty nifty controller and from what I've heard are great devices.

 

[LA-Lawman]

I am gnna agree with KJ.

I would do a closed loop. You have a pump room to your disposal. And your tank is huge 300g why not have the most energy efficent and maximum water flow with the tank as possible. iwould go with a dual ampmaster set-up. split up between sea swirls you would be golden.

just look at all the big tank you see. how many use powerheads. almost all the custom set-ups use loops to move water. the overflows handle about 1/3 of the water movement. the rest is done with loops. not cloggin worries. no overflow worries. and if u plumb them right... easy to change....

hth

 

[ChrisRD]

If I was setting up a large tank right now I'd seriously consider Sequence pumps.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not familiar with Sequence pumps. What are they, just a brand of pump?

Keep the opinions coming.

Louey

 

[leftovers]

http://www.mdminc.com/sequencestd.htm

or http://www.sequencepumps.com

they are made by MDM. I run a 4600SEQ22. They are quiet and very very powerful pumps.

 

[King Jason]

You could probably get away with using one large Sequence pump and an actuated ball valve for random currents. I have heard good things about Sequence pumps. Do they run hot?
I checked out their website and the pump use quite a lot of energy. The bigger pumps are up in the 300 watts range.

 

[Osama]

Louey; I just added 2X3/4" sea swirls and a surge tank to my 3 year old 180g reef tank. If you can have the surge tank be in the equipment room I would serioously consider that option: the water motion, surge effect are great for the corals. The sea swirls do a good job for the area of the tank that is targeted by their rotation. The surge tank spreads the water movement over a larger area horizontally & vertically. With the sea swirl the addition of a Y connectors increases the angle of coverage horizontally from 90 degrees to almost 180 degress and cost a couple of bucks more.... Having two return pumps from the sumps is an added plus for overall system reliability. I wish I had that instead of one larger pump pumping from the basement to the tank floor. Good luck. We will wait for progress pictures

 

[leftovers]

You could probably get away with using one large Sequence pump and an actuated ball valve for random currents. I have heard good things about Sequence pumps. Do they run hot?
I checked out their website and the pump use quite a lot of energy. The bigger pumps are up in the 300 watts range.

The sequence are cool but the motors are fan cooled, they in fact use less electricity than similar Iwaki pump and move a lot more water. They are similar in design as the Iwaki but bigger. The impeller and volute housing are rated for 100psi and since they are shaft driven(the correct term escaped me at that moment) they pass no heat along to the tank. The are fully repairable and have user replaceable parts (seals, impeller and volute). The MDM customer service is top notch and will help you over the phone with parts and service issues.

My sequence is moving approxamately 2000 gph up nearly 18 vertical feet and a 3 way wye and i have throttled it back 30-40%. I think the water numbers listed is conservative on their part.


Left

 

[ChrisRD]

I checked out their website and the pump use quite a lot of energy. The bigger pumps are up in the 300 watts range.

Make sure you are comparing like models. Just like the Dolphins, there are Sequence pumps that are high volume/low pressure that are very energy efficient for moving lots of water in a circulation application (but won't do well against a lot of head pressure) and there are high pressure pumps that suck up lots of power but will move huge volumes against high head.

In Louey's case (something you might use for a closed loop) the Sequence 3600SEQ12 should be comparable to a Dolphin Aqua Sea Ampmaster 3600 in output and power consumption according to the published specs.

I'm sure you guys have noticed it by now, but if not, check out the pump guide in our library. Very useful IMO.

http://reefs.org/library/pumps/