Got hosed by the landlord!

[Maxx]

The landlord wont let me set up the large cube tank that I want, but I am allowed to set up my 58 gallon Oceanic. I now have some extra money from the budget, but I want to buy w/ an eye towards upgrading tank size in the future.
Everything I've bought so far has pretty much been along those lines....(250 W MH lighting, MRC calcium reactor set.....wanted to go Geo, but for $250 for everything but a PH monitor, couldnt pass on it). I already have the tank, and I've built a stand for it.
I will be building the canopy as well.
I will be buying an ETSS protein skimmer and an Iwaki pump to run it, (skimmers dont "wear out" and I cant honestly see how overskimming will cause that big a deal)...
The tank will be BB, (Starboard) and will contain SPS, clams and my LTAs.
Basically my big concern here is flow.....
The tank is glass, and I will be drilling at least one 1 1/2 inch hole for a center overflow along the back wall, but I would like to limit the number of holes in the tank.
The tank's dimensions are 36Lx18Wx21H. because its such a relatively small tank, I am limited from several solutions....
Cant do Tunze streams.....was told it would make a small water park.
Tank is too small to justify a Motorized Ball Valve.....
Oceans Motions wavemaker would be a nightmare of plumbing, and not something I want to deal w/ in this situation.....
I've heard way to many stories of SQWDS going bad to put my faith in them.
Basically, I'm looking at powerheads....
I noticed that Reefer Addict, (guy on another board) has his "Tower of Power" (8 Maxi Jet 1200s) on a Natural Wave Timer.
Here is a link to his photo....about a quarter of the way down the page...
I know these are rough on powerheads, but replacing powerheads periodically is the most workable option I have right now.
So here is my first schematic...basically a smaller "Tower of Power".

The Maxi jet 900's run 230 GPH, the Maxi Jet 1200 does 295 GPH...I would have the PH's along the overflow and place them on the wave maker...the PH's along the bottom would be on constantly in order to keep detritus from building up under the rockwork.
Comments, advice, laughter at my expense????
Any thoughts as to how the PH's should be angled?? I was basically planning on having the 1200's face forward....the rest???
Nick

 

[jazznreef]

well, since you asked, i would stay clear of powerheads. i tried that route and it was filled with problems. they are basically a pain in ones rear. but, if thats what you need then its better than no flow at all.

 

[Al G.]

For the bottom flow, would it be possible to hook up a spray bar to a larger ph, like a magnum #?

 

[Scooterman]

I have to admit, the Maxi Jets I have are the best Ph's I've ever seen, they run, run run, filthy, they just run I'm very impressed with them as far as a PH goes. Now with that said, instead of running 8 Maxi's, why not run aONE external and build a Header to supply all eight ports to that new device with the eight inlets & the motor on top. I'll have to look for it but it was a nice idea, when I get home later today if you didn't find it, I'll have to do some digging, just another thought.

 

[Maxx]

Scott, you're talking about the Oceans Motions....yeah, the more I think about it, the better that sounds......gonna be a lot of ugly plumbing in the tank, but then again, there will be alot of ugly powerheads too......
I just posted up a question about how much head loss is caused by the 4 way unit...hopefully not too much.
Nick

 

[NaH2O]

Hmmm....Nick, I think the Oceans Motions would work....as you stated, the power heads all over the tank will be a lot of plumbing too. When you eventually go larger could you upgrade your oceans motions to an 8-way?

Oh, and can you hold my purse? I need to run to the car lol

 

[Al G.]

Have you seen this modification to maxi-jets?

maxi-jet

 

[Al G.]

Here's the link from the Reefcentral thread that talks about the maxi-jet modification.

Reefcentral

 

[mattseattle]

yeah i did that modification to all my maxi-jet's. works really really well.

 

[Maxx]

Al G.
Thanks for the links and the info on the Maxi Mod....pretty sweet. Thats good stuff there. Might be tempted to try that one.
Nick

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Wow, that's a cool mod to the maxijet!

 

[Maxx]

I spoke w/ the manufacturer of OceansMotions, Paul. Super Nice guy! Seriously.
I called him to ask him some questions about this thing and how best to employ an 8 way unit in my 58 gallon. He immediately said the 8 way was WAAAAYYYYY too much for what I needed.
That impressed me right off the bat...rarely will a manufacturer try to talk you out of buying the expensive model....
So I spoke w/ him for about an hour and he answered ALL my questions about this thing. I'm impressed by it. I really think I'll end up going w/ a Heavy Duty 4 way, (beefier motor...better longevity). So I started brainstorming some plumbing patterns for a closed loop on this critter.
Back ground info....
The sump return will actually be a spray bar. It will run just over the overflow. The plan is to prevent back siphon in the event of power failure by drilling at least two small holes in the plumbing over the overflow. Drilling them there does two things, (hopefully)...gives an audible indication that things are cool, and being out of the water should slow down the growth of encrusting critters that could block the holes and then allow a nasty siphon event thus draining the tank, reinforcing the landlords fears about leaky aquariums and causing my girlfriend to kill me.
The return pump is a Mag 7 that I have already, (might as well right?) According to the RC head loss calculator.....w/ my configuration, the pump should be running at about 226 GPH.
http://reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.ph...ouplings=2&CheckValves=0&Exits=36&Entrances=1
Not sure I really trust this particular since I'm running it on a spray bar. The holes are going to be small diameter, (1/8 inch or smaller) and I dont think the calculator is really taking that into consideration. According to Custom Aquactic's catalog, the Mag 7 runs @ 400 gph w/ 6 feet of head. I'm planning on about 4 1/2 feet of head so, maybe 375 - 425 gph w/ the way I've got it planned???
I want about 20+ times turnover per hour w/ the closed loop system...thinking a 1000-1200 gph pump.
The closed loop will be six 3/4 inch Revolutions which are his version of a sprinkler head, (sorta, bad analogy, but the only one I can come up w/ right now.) every time water hits 'em they drop down and spray. When water pressure is released they come back up, rotate 22.5 degrees and wait to go back into action from a new angle. The smallest area of coverage for the 3/4 inch Revolutions is 180 degrees, so that should cover alot.
I also want to have 2 lower ports working for me too. So I think I'll go w/a left and right manifold, (ugly, I know...) w/ part of it hitting the corner of the tank, part hitting the front glass at about a 45 degree angle or so, and then the last part blowing up through my rock structure to flush it up. I figure if I reduce the corner shots from 3/4 inch to 1/2 or 1/4, (3/8 maybe???) I will cause enough back pressure to generate decent water force to get the other two ports to be worthwhile...might increase the rockwork flush to 1 inch or maybe 1 1/4 inch in order to reduce velocity...volume is fine, but velocity could be a problem.
Neat thing about these Oceans Motions thingies is that you can configure them to run 2 ports at once...so I wouldnt have 1000-1200 gph running through just one port...again volume being the goal as opposed to velocity.
Nuff w/ the 'splainin'.....here the images.
Whats everyone think???? Good, bad, ugly...lemme have your thoughts, please.
Nick

 

[Maxx]

Here is a top down view... might make things a little more clear....

Nick

 

[Maxx]

well that sucks....try again....
Here...

 

[NaH2O]

I'm dazzled by the pretty colors!! Looks good to me, Nick! I do like the idea of running two of the ports at once on the Oceans Motions device. I'll be really excited to see how well the OM works for ya.

 

[Maxx]

I'm dazzled by the pretty colors!! Looks good to me, Nick! I do like the idea of running two of the ports at once on the Oceans Motions device. I'll be really excited to see how well the OM works for ya.

Well you know me and the pretty colors or small shiny objects.....
"So, Anyway, there we .....ohhhh!!!!Shiny!!!!!.............."
You dont think this is too much flow do you? I'm at another point where I'm realizing that I dont know crap about this hobby. Everytime I think I've got it figured out.......
Nick

 

[NaH2O]

Hmmm....if it seems like too much flow, can you dial it back at all without hindering the operation of the OM? I'm so dense when it comes to plumbing. Perhaps the way the OM current will be on the tank you'll be fine. I guess if you see the tissue getting ripped off your prized SPS, then you'll know you have too strong of flow? Good question, Nick

 

[mattseattle]

maxx - you and me both. i feel like i get a grasp on something then someone or something puts me back into my place. think it will be a while before i get cocky with this hobby.

 

[Scooterman]

Somehow I've missed the boat on this one, seems like I haven't been getting notifications until now. Anyho, I think with some creative directional flow you will not have too much.

 

[Maxx]

Scott,
what kind of creative directinal flow are you talking about?
Nick