Closed loop design help

[firechief]

Need help with designing a closed loop,
1:Is it better to pull water from around and under the rock, maybe four places on the bottom and then return the water from the pump at or close to the top of the tank

2: The other way around

Just looking at setting up a 135 gal reef tank with my first closed loop and want to do it right the first time, I would love some idea about this. "size, placement, alternating the return flow or anything else I need to know

Thanks Firechief

[indydog1]

i would make your intake higher in the tank because of cleaning and if anything gets sucked to the strainer. and your returns blow 2 low and to mid so it keeps the detrius from settleing on the bottom. if it stays up in the water column it will get through the filter to be removed. good luck.

[blakeorme]

Check out the Oceans Motions 4-way. Its a cool product and you can get a ton of ideas on the website for it. I just finished mine and was in the same boat as you. In addition, their customer service is great.

[JDigital]

Some details on my closed loop design in my build thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1509210

[silverwolf72]

about a 1/4 of the the way down is normally good for the intakes, easy to reach and low enough not to suck air from the surface, the returns I have seen everywhere top, bottom, back, sides, it depends on how you plan to scape and the corals you keep.

[firechief]

Thanks for the info,

I think I will have two intakes with screens in the back wall spaced out 1/4 way down

I would love to have all of the returns hiden behind the rocks, will the water flow bother the rocks or the fish when they go to hide or sleep.
or what is a good way to hide them? throw me some ideas

Is there a good pump that has two speeds, so a night I can slow down the pump to act the same as the ocean, ever 10 - 12 hours "work from a timer or controler"

Firechief

[firechief]

Any help on the pump as far as the two speeds, so I can slow it down at night

[greenmonkey51]

There is a pump, but its about 2 grand. Check out the Red Dragon pumps on Aquarium Specialty.

[maroun.c]

Do you really think the ocean slows up at night? for 2 grand I tend not to.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I wouldn't really worry about slowing at night... but if you really want to, the only way I can think of is plumbing 2 pumps in parallel (split the intake - goes into two pumps - then join the outputs) with one on a timer. But if you're doing that, might as well just make two separate loops.

Honestly, I think the fish will be okay with flow at night. We tend to project our need for a calm, dark, quiet sleeping area on the fish, but in the wild they've got sharks sticking their noses into their sleeping holes and all that other crap going on, and the ocean circulation is still happening.

[maroun.c]

plumbing 2 pumps in parallel (split the intake - goes into two pumps - then join the outputs) with one on a timer

Wouldn't necessarily work as the water from the working pump will exit through theeasies way which might be (depending on plumbing and pumps levels) through the shut down pump. a 2 CL design would still work though.