To have a closed loop or not

[thatguy559]

I am deciding on whether or not i want to do a closed loop system on my new tank im building. i will have a om4 and not sure on the pump yet....and im not sure i want to do it. i just want to know your thoughts pros and cons?

 

[Dalbery]

If I could have a closed loop I would in a heartbeat. No powerheads in the tank would be awesome. You can always add locline to redirect flow if your scaping or flow needs change. I would look into a reeflo pump something like a dart. Under 200 watts and very,very quiet.

 

[fishoutofwater]

i have a closed loop on my 210 and I am running an om8. love it and will never do powerheads again. I love the no clutter and no cords. just my opinion though. I am running a hammerhead reeflo for my closed loop. i think its 5800gph. if you do a closed loop make sure there lots of unions and ballvalves and go with schedule 80 bulkheads. this will be your savior when you need to do pump cleaning or replacement.

 

[thatguy559]

i will have 2 reeflo pumps on my tank already one dart for my return and a snapper for my skimmer.. im not sure i want to add another pump to my system

 

[dragoneggs]

I have had both. And love both. The pro and con's, your system, your preferences will be the weighing factors. Cost, maintenance, flexibility, flow, pattern, heat, noise, aesthetic need to be factored.

 

[thatguy559]

well right now i have a dart for a return pump splitting to a 1" SWCD and a 1" sea swirl. i bought the om4 so not im going to take the SWCD out and just use the sea swirl and the om4. i have a reeflo snapper im using for my mrc skimmer. i have a single tunze 6055 with a diy controller and a wave box for it (currently to big for my 120g) my tank is mostly lps so flow does not need to be ridiculous in there


maybe i can just "T" off the dart like i did for for the SWCD

 

[tat2z_21]

I think you should put a closed loop on your closed loop.

 

[tat2z_21]

Just kidding, really though I have never hooked up a closed loop and really I just want you to get one so that I can help put it together.

 

[thatguy559]

I'm not sure if I want to have 3 large pumps defeats the whole energy saving

 

[fishoutofwater]

My set up consists of the following. I did post earlier my closed loop. But I should have listed what else I have so here it is.

Closed loop running a reeflo hammerhead 5800gph into an om8 way. 8 outs with 3/4 locline fittings and 2 - 2" drains t'd to 1.5".

Return from sumps is a coralife 1740? T'd up to 2 - 3/4 seaswirls.



That's all I have for pumps on my closed loop and returns.

 

[Krish]

I love closed loops! With that said, I never had an issue with powerheads although the closed loop is such a much cleaner look. I guess if you don't want to add another pump to your system, you might have to determine first, if the flow you have now is sufficient. If you feel you have quite enough flow now and are concerned with energy savings then just don't worry about adding in another pump. I think the oceans motion would be better to use in place of the scwd, so maybe go that route and see how that works before considering another pump you really aren't interested in adding in to your system. Just a thought

 

[07FocusST]

I have my first closed loop on the 180G I just setup. So far I like it alot better than power heads. I am using a Reeflo Hammerhead that feeds a 1.5" manifold the reduces to a 3/4" inlet back to the tank. I have 6 inlets and 3 have locline on them. The other 3 have caps on them that have a small hole drilled to keep some back pressure to feed the locline. Although my Reeflo does hum a little and produces some heat to the water.

 

[07FocusST]

Just an FYI

Reeflo Hammerhead Pump 5800 gph Aquarium Reef Wavemaker - eBay (item 220727528553 end time Jan-26-11 18:13:05 PST)

Reeflo Dart Sequence Aquarium Koi Pond Pump 3600GPH - eBay (item 150552790581 end time Jan-29-11 13:07:48 PST)

 

[trido]

I used to be a big CL lover due to the clean in tank look. On my 210 mixed reef I ran a hammerhead 5800GPH. It wasnt enough as the years went by so I slowly supplemented with a few tunzes a vortech and a mj mod until I had near 20000GPH to keep the ever growing SPS forest happy.

AS dragoneggs stated, there are pro's and cons to both.

In tank clutter, locline fittings take up much less space than powerheads. If you get enough locline fittings and possibly a penductor, they start to take up plenty of space.

Noise. Typically external pumps are loud where powerheads are quieter. My barracuda resonated sound throughout my house (a built in tank is attached to your walls so if its noisy its noticable in remote areas) I couldnt stand it. My wife didnt mind it. I didnt like the sound of the vortech I had. After removing my CL I had two tunzes and a controller. My house was quiet and I was finally happy. My wife hated the noise they made. Thats about when I broke down the 210 reef.

Power. Using a power calcualtor, @ 8 cents a KWH 24/7 for 30 days, 100 watts costs roughly $6.00 a month.
So a 350 watt hammerhead costs $21.00 a month for 5800GPH.
Two Tunze 6105's at 14 watts cost about $1.00

Cost. IME, with quality equipment, a CL pump, OM wave maker, locline fittings, doublu union ball valves, unions, PVC galore costs from $800-$1000 dollars for near 6000GPH.
A Vortech or Tunze wave maker system with about the same GPH cost about the same.

It all boils down to preference.

 

[dragoneggs]

I went from four CL with four iwaki pumps and a bunch of plumbing under the floor to two MP40s on my new setup. Much simpler to maintain and cheaper to run, much more efficient, and easy to change around as the tank changes. As of now, I have no desire to go back to the bulk and rigidity that is CLs. Those factors matter most for me. My recurring cost of operation dropped dramatically with the use of power heads and LEDs instead of MH lighting. No more struggles with added heat from the pumps and lights especially in the summer and no more question of whether to 'invest' in a chiller now too. Just my story for what it's worth.

 

[TJL]

Hey Justin, been going through the same dilema for my new tank. It is already drilled/plumbed for the CL and came with a Dolphin Super AmpMaster 4750 gph. I absolutely love the idea of not having powerheads visable in the DT and think that an Ocean Motion 4 or 8 way with a SeaSwirl for sump/fuge return is the way to go for lots of random water flow. If you decide against the use of your OM I still need one hint hint.

Todd

 

[NC2WA]

Justin,

How big is the new tank?

IMO, if you are going to have a big tank over 200g, a closed loop system looks nice and clean, why have it cluttered with powerheads? I have two CL on my 375g each closed loop is driven by an Iwaki 70 RLT pump..

All of my equipment including the tank is in the garage so noise was not a factor in my decision, rather looking nice and clean in the wall was.

But it still comes down to a personal perference as there is not one correct answer here.

 

[Skimmy]

IMO, from a design/installation/cost/maintenance stand point, i really hate closed loops. and i am personally also repelled by the look of loc-line all over the tank.
in my 20g nano tank, i provide all the flow from a single tunze 6045 powerhead set up in a gyre and as you can see from the vid, the pump is NOT VISIBLE from the front of the tank .
but even in huge tanks, you dont have to look at powerheads all over the place. they can easily be set up in a very invisible manor either behind rockwerk or on one end in a row, like you see in the other vid. and as trido mentioned, the cost speakes for it's self.
the other issues i dont like about closed loops... they need to be replaced every 5-7 years, they get clogged with calcium deposits and must be taken off and cleaned every 2+ years, and the nozzle outlets are unnatural and inferior to the wide flow outlets of powerheads like tunze/vortec/koralia powerheads.
20gnano028.mp4 video by fragfu - Photobucket
YouTube - corallite's Channel

 

[thatguy559]

thanks for all the advice i think im just going to "T" off the return pump for the OM4 and seaswirl like i have been doing with my current setup with seaswirl, SWCD and tunze 6055 with wavebox

 

[trido]

NOOOOoooooooo Not a scwd!!!!!

If you have to use one, take a look at this thread. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76847