Water circulation

[chris Maunders]

Hello all I am a post virgin, this is my first, please be gentle.

I am setting up a new reef tank. I hate seeing all the equipment inside the display tank especially the powerheads. Clealy I could hide them behind the live rock but this could make maitenance a bit tricky.

I would like to use a pair of Eheim 1250's or ocean runners 2500. and plumb in a circulation system keeping the pumps outside of the aquarium and directing jets into the surface of the tank.

Has anyone tried this before and can the pumps be connected to a surge controller( suggestions of make please) like ordinary powerheads.

I am also setting up a DSB what should be the recommended depth of have been advised 2-3 inches?

Thankyou in anticipations of your responce.

Chris

P.s. does anyone know a good onlie supplier of eheim or other manufacturers of pipe and fittings etc...

http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[tlp]

Hi Chris, welcome! And no worries - peeps here won't bite - much!

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I would like to use a pair of Eheim 1250's or ocean runners 2500. and plumb in a circulation system keeping the pumps outside of the aquarium and directing jets into the surface of the tank. [/b][/quote]

This is quite common and is usually refered to as a closed loop - ie. the configuration is such that the pump have zero head pressure (apart from friction from pipeworks). Sometimes the tank is drilled for the inlet of the pump which is ideal, but otherwise you can have the pump sitting anywhere. With leak-free piping, as long as both the input end and the output end of the pump remain submerged at all times - then the system should work. The only tricky bit is to prime the pump to get it going.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">can the pumps be connected to a surge controller( suggestions of make please) [/b][/quote] - no reason why not. Even something as simple as the Algarde unit - which I think can draw up to 50watt of power simultaneously - can drive the pumps (not sure on the exact power usage of the Eheim /Oceanrunner).

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">DSB what should be the recommended depth of have been advised 2-3 inches? [/b][/quote] - depends very much on the media that you will use. With ultra fine sand, 2-3" should suffice. Generally the recommend depth should be at least 4". However, the questions on DSB/sand type and depth have been raised and discussed many times beore so it may be worth doing a few searches.

[Paul Firth]

Eheim uk spec
1250, 1360 lph @ zero head, 38 watts ph
1060, 2280 lph @ zero head, 50 watts ph

have a look at rio pumps from TMC they are about half the price of Eheim pumps even after dealers have discounted Eheims

Rio 1700 appx 2300 lph cost less than £50 & you get loads of fittings with them

[chris Maunders]

Thanks guy's for your comments.

Any idea who is the best supplier of pipework and fittings for aquariums?

Also does the Tunze surge controller take other makes of Pumps or it supposed to be used with their own make.

Once again thanks


Chris http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[mark]

Hi Chris,

I've just added more water flow to my tank and got a ocean runner 3500, i asked in the shop wether it would be ok on my system 2000 wave maker and they wern't sure so i rang aqua medic and they reckon you should only use them on there wave maker because it's genuine soft start (whatever that is?, i thought that system 200's were?) so i used this for my return and put my eheim 1060 in the tank on the wave maker, i have found that these work well and don't go wrong. i have also a rio 1700 pump and that would not work well at all on the wave maker it was noisey and sometimes didn't start up so i now have to have it running all the time to get it to work consistenly. IMO i would go for eheims or maxi jet power heads.

HTH

Cheers,

[Alpha]

Hello Chris, I read a bad review on the Rio pumps as the resin casing cracks (apparently) so I went fot aquabee 3000's.

Like you I wanted to avoid burying powerheads where I couldnt see em, or service/clean em.

I have 4 Aquabee 3000's which I intend running 4 seperate closed loops.

Alpha

[Privman]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the board mate,

I thought you might like to check out Simon Garratt's site, he's written a very good article on circulation here (http://website.lineone.net/~espsrg) at his site, and Simon's using some serious closed loops on his new tank.

Plus he's got a novel idea on running a 'suspended' DSB in his sump, most of the really useful stuff, (sorry Simon http://www.ultimatereef.com/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif), is under the HINTS AND TIPS section of his site

hth

Mark.



Last edited by Privman at Oct. 14 2002,23:10