Could I use a trolling motor in a reef tank?

Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum

Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:

Well since you ride the shortbus you can do whatever you want lil buddy.

-jk-

The link didnt work for me either, can you explain you idea?
 
ok
Ha Ha
my name says it all
But
I am in the planning stages of a large tank
Ok maybe dreaming
8 foot long tank
2 motors one in each corner, pointing out at a 45* angle to the front glass
One side on tide coming in
Other side on tide going out
Both on mega flow
I would place them in duct and pile them in some rocks
Ken
 
I see your point, but im sure there are better/more-efficiant ways to get flow and/or simulate tide.

Are you familiar with the TUNZE PowerHeads and controller?
 
Turbelle® stream 6200 with Singlecontroller

Includes Turbelle® stream 6200 pump
with max flow of 20000 l/h, (5,283 US gal.)
and one Singlecontroller 7091.

$510.00 x 2
 
Look the fish got choped up getting to close to the blades wait the duck tape fell apart and the motor chopped up a prized coral and then it happened , the motor pulled the computer powersupply into the water and electricuted the owner while working on the tank :-(

All kidding aside it's too much havoc waiting to happen .
 
Last edited:
Also the gearbox may have oil bearings may leak , lots of bad things. they are not meant for your tank and would think if it were that easy to create flow then tunze would be out of business.
 
I have heard of people using these for surge devices in Reef Central. Is this your plan? I have a friend working on this idea for one as we speak.
 
Stay away from this idea i can only see it costing you a fortune if something goes wrong. Also shouldn't you wait till you get your tank before you start buying trolling motors. Plus if you want surge your better off building one above the tank. I've seen them in action and they are really cool, and very efficient. this sounds a little too dangerous. But you gotta do what feels good to you.
 
Yes it’s thinking outside the box
The motor shaft is SS, no oil, sealed casing for the motor
As far as protecting fish and snails,
6” PVC pipe with egg crate on both ends with the motor inside
With that all said
I may go BIG on the maxi jet mod
I have a mag-1 or 3 laying around, hook it up to a trolling motor prop
So what do you think?
Thanks
Ken
 
Well with that said i have less fear but, still very cautious. How much are these trolling motors going to cost you? If you want a strong surge there are surge systems that can be made from a decent pump and rubbermaid containers. Very cheap, and very realistic. I've seen them on a 350 SPS tank, it was amazing. I bet you could do it for under $200. I would like to do that on my tank, but its only a 90.
 
Thanks all
The trolling motor idea is dead!
Ok Im at home depot going down the plumbing isle
I see a water pressure tank
25 gallon
Then I do some web search and find some non metal ones
How about using one as a surge tank and a springier valve on a timer to trigger it
A pressure pump would fill it up and then the sprinkler valve would empty it every so often
What do you think?
Ken
Shortbus
 
Okay did i just read a couple of toliets above the tank? :rolleyes:
If you want to do a surge tank thats cool. I'll try and find so,e links for you, but it will sound a lot like a toliet flushing everytime a surge is created. If you could give a damn about the sound then we're good to go!

:lol: Toliets :rolleyes:
 
What if instead of a toilet you had a bucket tied to a miniature door that you put in your tank, every time your fish went throu the door the string (tied to the door handle) would tip the bucket of water over on the fish, hahahahaa
 
o.k o.k

Here's a surge device

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/surge_device.html

The pipe size can be varied - the larger the diameter the faster the device will drain. A larger container can be used, which results in more water flow. A faster fill pump can be used and this will decrease the time between surges. The higher the device is above the tank water level, the faster the dump rate will be, however, there will be more head on the pump and the fill rate will be lower.


Operation

My device empties in around 21 seconds and fills in 14 seconds. From "empty" to "full" is around 3.8 L. This means it is dumping around 9.5 L on each dump - the 3.8 L in the container plus another 5.7 L from the powerhead as the device empties. The overall flow rate is around 980 L/hr (the rate of the powerhead with a small head and friction) but the dumping is equivalent to more than 1600 L/hr. The exit flow rate is around 260 cm.s-1.

The device is reasonably quiet. Both starting and stooping the dump makes a small amount of noise. There are some bubbles entering the tank during the early parts of the dump, but these are not distracting.
 
Last edited:
one issue i see with the pc power supply is atx use a switch on your pc mother board to turn the power supply on off so you would have to have a understanding of the atx power interface to know what one to splies in to to creat a full circut thus causeing the power supply to turn on try a older at power supply they have a built in on off switch the one on the ATX power is a manual over ride switch not a actual on off switch
 
mnewby said:
one issue i see with the pc power supply is atx use a switch on your pc mother board to turn the power supply on off so you would have to have a understanding of the atx power interface to know what one to splies in to to creat a full circut thus causeing the power supply to turn on try a older at power supply they have a built in on off switch the one on the ATX power is a manual over ride switch not a actual on off switch

Somewhere here there is a thead I did awhile ago on how to do this.

Don
 

Latest posts

Back
Top