Intake mod...save lives!

[Cajun Reefer]

These are what i use and have for years........not a DIY thing of course but they are awesome at distributing the pressure and you can hardly notice them...they only stick out 1/2" and come in many colors, black of course best for most of us. Comes with a 1.5" MPT to screw into your bulkhead and can handle 4800 gph apiece

http://www.spacare.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3796

fly guy,

Do you have to use that screw to fasten the cover to the bulkead? If so, I'm assuming that the screw is stainless steel, correct? Also, any idea what the diameter (width) is?

Thanks...

 

[fly guy]

No, the screw is not needed for our application. The screw is more so kids cant easily unscrew it and allow bigger crap to get into peoples spa pumps.


The MPT adapter that comes on it is 1.5".......

As far as the total width........let me go measure it...ive got an extra one laying around....



its 4" total. You seriously can hardly tell they are even there though. They stick out 1/2". They need to be that big inorder to allow 4800 gph through them.

When i originally posted to this thread i didnt see there were 3 pages to it. : ) This unit has already been mentioned earlier

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers, fly guy!

 

[Cajun Reefer]

Closed loop. Trying to avoid reef puree!

fly guy,

I'm finally getting around to drilling my 90 gallon tank in the near future and add an overflow as well as separate bulkheads for a closed loop system.

I have a Reeflo Dart external pump (3600 gph) that I plan on using for a closed loop system. The pump has a 2-inch inlet and 1.5-inch outlet. To avoid problems with fish, anemones, etc getting stuck to the filter, I'm thinking of using 2 large 1.5-inch spa strainers (4-inch diameter) similar to yours that will connect to a 2-inch piece of PVC and lead to the inlet of the pump.

Do any of you foresee any problems with too much suction at the strainers; whereby, animals can still get sucked in and/or stuck. I'm hoping by splitting the suction by 2, it will solve any problems!

What type of pump (gph) do you have hooked up to your system? How is the suction at the strainer? Have you ever put your on or near it? Any problems with anemones, snails, sea cucumbers, etc getting stuck in the strainer?


"We have seen many aquariums equipped with recirculating pumps with the intake plumbed through the wall of the aquarium (either a side or the bottom), and outfitted with a strainer to prevent fish from being slurped into the motor. This technique works fine for fish-only aquariums, but is a disaster in the reef tank. Don't make this mistake! Wandering clownfish anemones, loose mushroom anemones, algae, sea cucumbers, and other creatures end up against the strainer and often, through the pump. They become reef puree. The design of choice with this arrangement is to simply put the intake in the overflow."

The Reef Aquarium, Volume Three, Science, Art, and Technology (J. Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung) Chapter 7, Water Motion, page 408.

Thanks !!!

 

[fly guy]

I dont care who wrote it, I think its horrible advice to put your intakes in the overflow box for 2 major reasons

1. most overflows cant take that kind of flow if you are running a decent sized CLS and if they can it will take away from your surface skimming ability as it will be much deeper water going into the overflow box

2. the whole point of a overflow box in the first place is to surface skim the dirtiest water out of the tank and send it to the skimmer to be skimmed. Why would you intentionally set up your system so that this water that has been skimmed from the surface will be recirculated throughout the tank via your cls??


Currently on both of my tanks I run sequence hammerheads each with 2 - 1.5 " intakes covered with those spa intake covers. My anemone is happy and never moves or yes, he could get nailed....but snails can walk across it with ease as can healthy fish lay sit right next to them and easily swim away.

The spa intake covers are IMO the best cls intake cover available for looks and performance. If you get the black ones or paint them black you cant even see they are there against a black background


ps- Thanks for the Welcome NaH20. I didnt realize how old this thread was until after I replied from th email notification.

 

[Cajun Reefer]

Thanks for the info, fly guy! 2 intakes is the way I'll go then!

 

[lizardarm]

These are what i use and have for years........not a DIY thing of course but they are awesome at distributing the pressure and you can hardly notice them...they only stick out 1/2" and come in many colors, black of course best for most of us. Comes with a 1.5" MPT to screw into your bulkhead and can handle 4800 gph apiece

http://www.spacare.com/index.asp?Pag...OD&ProdID=3796

I've got the same strainer (but in black) and it rocks. I've seen crabs, a nudi, and some mystery worm crawl across the thing scavenging with no problems. It screws into the threaded bulkhead so it's easy to get out for cleaning.