Need help with plumbing

[mammut]

Hi All,

I just purchased a used 58 gallon Oceanic tank. This is my first saltwater tank so I'm trying to take my time and get this right. I will be doing a reef tank with softies and maybe some lps and an anemone. I am going with a bare-bottom tank and will be building a rack to lift the live rock up off the bottom of the tank.

Pic one below is the current setup. I don't really like the look of all the Maxi jets so I am looking at ways to get rid of some of them at least.

The next image below is my proposed solution. I am going to build a spray bar powered by a maxi jet to blow under the elevated live rock. The return will continue to flow in the current direction but the pump will be upgraded to a Mag 7 by a change in the impeller.

Does this setup look feasible? I was thinking of powering the spray bar off the return but the chance of overflow from it scares me, as with my luck the siphon break holes will be clogged sometime I am on vacation and wont catch it for awhile. If I did go with the return spray bar would the one light blue maxi jet be enough flow toward the overflow box?

Any suggestion are appreciated....

---Brad

 

[bradreef]

I would Up the mag 7 to a mag 9 and split it off a sqwd. to the corner and a spraybar. the corals still need some flow and the spraybar by itself wont be much. I think the spraybar might eliminate the bottom maxijet but I would still keep two top ones. You will want the return to directly hit the path of both mj's

 

[Jiddy]

correction

Actually guys your both way off, that setup really wont work, ive done the calculations and have the correct setup here, disperse widely please.

 

[szidls]

Actually guys your both way off, that setup really wont work, ive done the calculations and have the correct setup here, disperse widely please.

Hey Jiddy, So what kind of peaceful community tank are you setting up?:badgrin:

 

[mammut]

Nice one Jiddy. I havent laughed that hard in awhile.

Brad---

Just so I have this straight you would power the sqwd with the spray bar and the Y off the mag 9 and put in the 2 maxijets flowing directly back at the Y? I like the idea of random flow with the sqwd and this way I will not have to worry so much about siphon breaks in the return line and I will have redundencies.

 

[NaH2O]

Jiddy - that's hilarious!

mammut - Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! You could also do something like an over the top closed loop. Take a look at this post: Single Post - Over the tank closed loop

 

[mammut]

So with a closed loop could I get get rid of the maxijets totally?

I would put the return on the Y Brad suggested and spray bar hooked up to the sqwd with a new mag 9 and would then have the closed loop run on the mag 7 and sqwd with outputs in the top right and left corners point in a V toward the center of the tank.

That sound feasible? Sure will add alot of flow to the tank. Is it too much of a good thing with 2 sqwds? Am I better off without the sqwd on the return line?

Thanks,
The other Brad..

 

[NaH2O]

hmmm....I'm not sure if 2 SCWDS would be necessary. For ease of plumbing sake - you may want to eliminate one. I think if the plumbing is planned out, then you could get rid of the powerheads.

 

[mammut]

So the big question is would it be better to have the sqwd on the spraybar/Y or the closed loop in the right and left corners pointing toward the front center of the tank?

 

[Al G.]

mammut,
Is the impellar the only difference between the mag 3, 5, and 7? I know they are all use the same pump body. I stupidly undersized my return pump(on a 20g tank), and bought a mag 5. If just changing out the $10 impellar increases the flow to mag 7 levels, then I gotta try it. Beats buying a whole new pump. Though, had I waited a week before buying my pump, I would have seen this thread and I would have gotten a mag 9.5

 

[mammut]

Hi Al,

From what I have read and seen the only difference between the mag 7 an 5 is the impeller. I actually have an extra one if you need it. I was just going to return it to the place I ordered it from. Shoot me a PM..

Link to discussion of which Mag-Drive pumps are the same...

---Brad

 

[reedman]

mammut,

Here's my 2 cents worth.

I run a mag 9.5 as my return on a 75 gallon tank. I have about 4 foot of head pressure and it runs through a SCQD before returning to the tank via 2 3/4" lines. This is a reasonable amount for flow for your LPS tank. A softy tank could go with a little less flow, but I would recommend sticking with the mag 9.5. The SCWD causes some significant losses in flow. Keep this in mind if you decide to use it and size your pump up accordingly. I like mine...it works well and cost a whole lot less than a motorized ball valve.

On the spraybar. These things require a LOT of flow to make them work well. Remember that water will try to escape at the first low pressure point it finds. If you have a spray bar and not enough pressure you will have more flow at one end than the other. I have only seen one or two of these actually work well enough to be called usefull. I would opt for either a powerhead blowing across the back or one of the outputs from the return line going across the back. Your just trying to keep the detritus out from behind the rocks so that you can remove it. Better yet, keep it in suspension so that the skimmer can remove it.