**~~TOTW- Water Circulation~~**

Scooterman

Scooterman

Active Member
Originally posted by Cosmic
Sure 'nuff.
Here's a picture of my closed loop stack for an un-drilled tank.
Click to expand...

On the suction side of your piping, you have what looks like a Tee and one end goes to the pump suction(Intake) & the top part of the Tee converts over to a screw on cap, Is this right?
I take it you use the Cap to prime the well per say? I have a few more questions on the suction side again, the piece of pipe drilled with what size holes, & is the bottom capped? How deep does the suction go into your tank? Last if a leak was to ever occur, is there safety features that prevent you from siphoning all the water out your tank on to the floor?

These questions may be moved to another thread I understand. I'm in the planning's of building one right now!
 
Cosmic

Cosmic

Member
Scott,
you are correct in that my intake side has a standpipe that is threaded. This allows me to prime the pump when first setting it up.
As far as how far the holes need to start under the water, that depends on the pump. For my Little Giant3, ,that magic height is about 2". Smaller pumps will require somewhat less, ,bigger pumps more.

The diameter of my holes were roughly 3/8" (or there-abouts). The bottom of the tube is capped so as to not suck up fish. Same reasoning behind having so many holes on the intake. If a fish gets sucked to it, it can break free because of all the other holes spreading the suction around.

The intake is roughly 5" down into my tank, and after priming it the first time, I can turn the pump off and back on without re-priming. So, priming was a one-shot deal.

-HTH-
Cos
 
Scooterman

Scooterman

Active Member
Thanks Cos, This will be my weekend project coming up. I will run a test set-up with my 900gph Ocean Runner, (it is my back-up for the main sump pump) I'm looking at running the plumbing under the stand, all the way up, which is about 60" off the floor. I'm thinking of using two 90's off the pump then 45's creating offsets until I get to the back of the tank, then I'll need to 45 to the right & up to the top, I know this sounds crazy. My tank is close to the wall & limited by where I can put the pump. I might do something really crazy like add a sheet of plywood to the top section of the stand & mount the pump upside down above the sump, this would cut about 30" of Vertical height. I don't know yet, as my space underneath has a 30g sump on one side & wiring/storage on the other, which can be converted space for CA reactor one day. However I do it, seems like it will take a series of 45's & 90's to get the plumbing up and over to one side. Once I get it plumbed, then I can get an idea how much pump I'll need to make it all worth while. I hope I can get a pump that is as quite as the rest & still produce about 1,200gph at pump before head pressure, which I'm guessing will be reduced to about 900gph maybe. I'm also thinking of putting it on a timer, to run only during the lighting period. I'm guessing I may waste some pvc but will try & make it as simple as possible.
 
Maxx

Maxx

Well-Known Member
How do you prime it.
Click to expand...
An easy way of doing it would be to get some flexible tubing and run it through the return portion of the closed loop. Place the inlet side of the closed loop in the tank...siphon water from the tank into the closed loop....have bucket and rag ready to catch excess/spillage.
htere ya go!
Nick
 
EdgeKrusher

EdgeKrusher

Member
Thanks Maxx.
Oh I thought there was a manual pump that you worked inside the stand pipe... not a bad idea. LOL

Peace

EK
 
Craig Manoukian

Craig Manoukian

Well-Known Member
Thanks Maxx I went to the site and saw the 330 GPH plus or minus.

Now what diameter gravity feed do I want to use to match the Mag 7? I will put a gate valve to control the flow and mexactly match the return pump capacity.

Thanks again everyone for all of the input on this thread!

:) :D :cool: ;) :p :smirk:
 
Cosmic

Cosmic

Member
You won't need a gate valve to fine tune your flow, and here's why:

Your tank is only going to drain so low, correct? When it gets to that "low" point, it stops draining.

Now, otoh, your pump is returning a constant velocity, correct? This means that your tank water is going to drain however fast you return it to the tank. Any 3/4" -1" drain will handle a 330 PGH drain. The important thing is just to make sure your drain is LARGE enough to handle the return. It's not going to drain any faster than your pump gives it back to the aquarium, as the water will just flow back down before raising tank water height.

Confusing, but hopefully that made a little bit of sense?

Cos
 
Maxx

Maxx

Well-Known Member
Thanks Cos....beat me to the answer...was downstairs working on my stand...
Nick
 
EdgeKrusher

EdgeKrusher

Member
K guys, got a question. Check out this link and tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am thinking about creating a closed loop system that pushes 20X flow. Wanted to use a Mag 2 but the calculator says that my design is going to need a bigger pump, now keep in min I have a 12 gallon eclipse nano, so I don't want a pump bigger than the tank. maybe I'm doing something wrong. I'll try and get diagram up today. Thanks

EK
 
EdgeKrusher

EdgeKrusher

Member
yeah that includes the pvc that is going into the tank. I wanted the out puts longer than what is shown in that pick, I want some water flow near the bottom of the tank as well. I have a rough diagram sketched out, but I'm moving it to a format that I can post, since I don't have a scanner.

EK
 
W

Web2000

Member
I just put a closed loop on my 120. I have 400 gph running through my refuge and back into my tank. Then we made a gravity feed into a pump running at 1500 gph. We put a ball valve at the chiller so that 500 gph would run off into the chiller then back inot the main line. We then put another ball valve at the UV so that 100 gph would run into the UV and then back into the main line. Then it returns to the tank in two diagonal corners from eachother to create a nice comotion in the center of the tank. It was quite an undertaking from the 4 power heads that were in the tank, but everything seems to be doing quite well now. My Colt coral seems to be benefitting the most from the change. He's grown very robust since the change.
 
Maxx

Maxx

Well-Known Member
EK,
Why do you have twelve 90 degree elbows in your plans? Four 90's make a full circle.....ya building a water slide?
Nick
 
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