Internal closed Loop for flow?

[cabrego]

Has anyone tried or heard about doing this:

I have a very strong powerhead that I would like to plumb and keep inside the tank. Essentially, this idea would allow run a closed loop like flow system with out water exiting the tank.

So my idea would be to have the power head in the tank and have pvc plumbed from the powerhead aroud the top border of the tank with maybe 2-4 outlets nozzles that will allow me to direct flow with in the tank.

Has anyone seen this? Let me know if this makes sense.

[thor32766]

can you make a diagram of some kind?

[cabrego]

Here is a quick sketch of what I am talking about. I do not see a good reason why this can not be done.Obviously, I would not be able to have sand in this particular configuration, but I think you get the idea.


Seems like this idea could replace 3 power heads if done correctly.

comments?

[cabrego]

Anyone?

[maroun.c]

It's very similar to what I have in my tank. I wanted to be able to run 1-2 closed loops without waterexiting the tank nor holes in the tank with risks of floods while I'm away as I travel very frequently.
I have a partition just next to the overflow with 3 pumps (for now) where two are attached to closed loops and one is just pushing water behind the rock structure. in the partition glass I have 3 3/4 inch return holes over the length of the glass with screens to prevent fish from going in. Its very effcient as it's very safe and allows me to run 7500 litres per hour to two closed loops. it did take some work to get some fish that jumped in initially however I added a screen on top and now no fish can get there. One thing I would adjust when I move the tank is to add a couple more holes for water return as I see water level starting to drop a bit low when the screens are dirty. Still as the water pressur from all the tank is pushing against the glass I'm not afraid that the water level would drop too much.
Check my build thread to see how it's made and if you decide to go that way do one more thing differently and have the pumps partition in the front and the overflow in the back as that would make it much easier to take the pumps out for cleaning or to connect and disconnect SCWD or OM squirts which I will do next. the whole thing gives you nice flow capabilities depending on pumps strength and flow diverters used. till now I only have on CL with a SCWD on it so I assume I will get much better random flow when I add the Oceans motions squirt. you will see that I kept two Seios in my tnak on the left upper corner as those are used for surface agitation and seem to be doing much better than the CL alone.
Can't tell for sure if this is better than powerheads in the tank so far as I don't have decent flow diverters on it. it does look much better though.

[Bax]

Heat is probably the greatest concern in keeping the PH in the display.

You do not need to drill to run a CL. You can plumb the pump inlet over the top and do the returns the same way. No holes. Less heat. It's a CL so no floods.