hidden CLS explaination.

[G~]

i decided to start another thread to help explain what i was talking about with my hidden CLS inputs.

i drew this up for a 5' 150g.

here is an explaination with my normal horrible mastery of the english language.

i would order the 150 with a center overflow like you said. you can put one 1.5" drain and one 1" return in the bottom of it. these are not hole sizes but pipe sizes! a 1.5" return will be able to handle a lot of expansion in the future, along with the 1" return. the drain would go into the sump. the return will be split at the top of he tank (above water line). then the return nozzles will go over the center overflow to the corners of the overflows then into the tank. you will only see the nozzles. i small hole will be drilled at the waterline to stop the siphon when the power goes out.

now the fun part. i suggest putting a coast to coast overflow on each side of the center overflow. this should only need to be about 4" from the back of the tank and 5" down from the top of the tank. the teeth for these overflows will need to be about 1/2" lower than the teeth that are on the center overflow. the reason it needs to be slightly lower is that it can not go dry when the power goes out. this would harm the CLS pumps. think of this not as a true overflow but as a surface skimmer. it will take anything off of the surface of the water and put it back into the water column for the protein skimmer to take care of it. this also allows a safe way to take in huge amounts of water. the problem with having CLS inlets in the tank is that they are dangerous to small animals. with this overflow design they are safer, not as much force per given area. is this making sense? i will try and get a picture on Monday when i have my silly drawing program.

ok, back on topic. behind each of the c to c overflows put a hole for a 1" pipe near the bottom. this will be the inlet for the CLS. a weir of that size should be able to handle close to 2000gph! you can then put 2 returns from the CLS anywhere on the back wall you want on that side of the tank. you will do the same for the other side. i would definately put one neat the center overflow so that it will be behind the rocks to flush the detritus out. the other could be in the outside corner just below the c to c overflow. to give some cross currents to the return from the sump. another good think to do is put filter sponges (called prefilters by some pump manufacturers) on the CLS inlets this will allow you to collect floating detritus. i have these on my CLS and i have to clean them twice a week!!! they are that efficient at collecting detritus!!

the tank has a mag 18 on each CLS. he says that he is not having any problems with the weirs not handling the flow.

here is a pic of the drawing. just another option out there. makes cleaning the strainer much easier, plus the fear of anemones and other critters getting hurt by the inlets is much less.

G~

 

[mojoreef]

Geoff have you ever seen the coast-to-coast trough in use?? I really don't think putting the closed Loop inputs in the trough itself could be an option. Here is my reasoning: you have a trough height of 5 inches, you want to put a 1 inch bulkhead through the back the tank and into the trough. In order to do this will have to drill the back of a tank at least a half-inch above the bottom of the trough in order to get the bulkhead through. A 1 inch bulkhead I believe needs a whole that is 1 3/4 to 2 inches. So let's say the top of the bulkhead opening 2 1/2 inches above the bottom of the trough, when we take the half-inch teeth into account that means the water spilling into the trough is only 2 inches at best from the bulkhead. I think this is going to cause lots of bubbles from the water pouring over the trough and will probably also create a cavitation whirlpool. I think he would have to make the trough a lot deeper, probably at least two more inches, which I think takes up too much space.
Geoff I understand what you're trying to do and it's a good concept, I would say may be putting the inputs deeper into the main overflow that spans the height of the tank might be better in the application you're trying to do. The one drawback to that would be access for cleaning. The heavy suction is definitely a concern this is why I always drill double the inputs.
Let's talk about this little bit more maybe we can find a solution.

Mike

 

[G~]

putting the inlets deeper in the overfows is an interesting idea. in the drawing the overflow and the troughs are not connected. i did this so that the water level would be high enough not to cause the air suck problem you are worried about. the teeth for the troughs are also 1/2" longer than the teeth on the overflow. this is to keep water level in the trough from lowering much if at all. the trough is really just a really, really big strainer.

i need to see if i can a pic of it now.

i know with this way of doing it, you will run into a flow ceiling with the troughs. so a mag 18 is about all that can be put on one of the troughs.

i hate cleaning inlets behind rocks.

G~

 

[wanareef]

Why limit yourself If you put 2 BH's alone the back, side, of the tank, it'll get covered with coraline anyway and you won't see them. And for cleaning, just run a bottle brush through them.

I put a closed loop on my temporary rose tank, using a SWCD and an oversize inlet and a 4-way pvc to cut down on the suction of the pump (Iwaki 40rlt) works great.

 

[Crows Ridge]

As stated in another thread, you could just add another CL intake lower in the tank. I have three 1.5". This reduces the suction at each intake and I have never found anything in my screens.

Just the overflow coast to coast round trip to the sump has problems with air back into the tank. I would think that from the overflow, your closed loop would be sucking air alot!

Good luck however you make it work

Chris

 

[jon warner]

clever ideas!