Best way to do a closed loop?

[Pomme]

Best way to do a closed loop?

I am going to be setting up a 7x2.5(wide)x2(high), tank which will be conected to a sump in the garge.

I will have a Deltec 4040 pump as a return and have 2 6000 Streams and 2 6100 Streams, and this will give me around 39x turnover, but i am wanting to have some closed loops on the tank as well.

I am wanting the tank to go up against the back wall so dont want the piping to go up and over. I will use some more Deltec Hlp 4040 pumps for the closed loop as these will be nearly all that will be under the cabinet and they are so quiet

But as the tank has a double glass layer for the bottom, is it still okay to drill through this, as surely it would add to the risk of the tank cracking.

I am hoping for the return to go back through the bottom of the tank, but am unsure about the feed to the pump, whats the best place for it to be, is it okay to be from the bottom as well? and whats good to use to stop fish, crabs and snails going down to the pump.

Thanx for the help guys
Cheers
Andrew

[Elmo18]

Best way to do a closed loop?

I am going to be setting up a 7x2.5(wide)x2(high), tank which will be conected to a sump in the garge.

I will have a Deltec 4040 pump as a return and have 2 6000 Streams and 2 6100 Streams, and this will give me around 39x turnover, but i am wanting to have some closed loops on the tank as well.

I am wanting the tank to go up against the back wall so dont want the piping to go up and over. I will use some more Deltec Hlp 4040 pumps for the closed loop as these will be nearly all that will be under the cabinet and they are so quiet

But as the tank has a double glass layer for the bottom, is it still okay to drill through this, as surely it would add to the risk of the tank cracking.

I am hoping for the return to go back through the bottom of the tank, but am unsure about the feed to the pump, whats the best place for it to be, is it okay to be from the bottom as well? and whats good to use to stop fish, crabs and snails going down to the pump.

Thanx for the help guys
Cheers
Andrew

I'm going to say that if its untempered glass at the bottom, then it will be fine to drill through. Do not drill through tempered glass.

I will let others chime in on this one, but I'll say that there will be some major water movement in there ;) I think the acroporas will love that.

- Elmo

[acropora]

With the Tunze streams you are planning to use,there is no need for a closed loop. After all that is their best selling point. You will have a tremendous amount of circulation with the 4 streams.

However a closed loop can easily be set up by drilling holes in the back glass panel which most often(check with the manufacturer) is not tempered glass.
When I drill for a closed loop I want them about 1/3 up from the bottom. This places them in a spot that can be hid by L.R. and is not to close to the bottom,as to pick up sand.Some people place the closed loop pump on a shelf at tank level.If you want to be close to the wall,the pump can be placed under the tank and the plumbing(flex PVC) can run up the back of the tank to the B.H.'s. 1/1/2" B.H.'s should work fine for most pumps,but some will require 2" B.H.'s

[Pomme]

cool thanx i just love the idea of having closed loops, and as i am setting up the tank i know i will be able to hide the streams, by hiding the left and right hand side of the tank with the plasterboard which will be put up so the tank looks like its in the wall . but know that if i want to add water movement when set-up it will need to be a pump with piping all over the place and im a person that needs things tidy so i like the idea of closed loops even if i dont use them to begin with.

if i was to have 3 closed loops and the piping could go through the bottom and the left hand side where would you have the inlets and returns?

[acropora]

cool thanx i just love the idea of having closed loops, and as i am setting up the tank i know i will be able to hide the streams, by hiding the left and right hand side of the tank with the plasterboard which will be put up so the tank looks like its in the wall . but know that if i want to add water movement when set-up it will need to be a pump with piping all over the place and im a person that needs things tidy so i like the idea of closed loops even if i dont use them to begin with.

if i was to have 3 closed loops and the piping could go through the bottom and the left hand side where would you have the inlets and returns?

When you say 3 closed loops, that means 6 B.H.'s,minimum, for 3 pumps.3 holes for intake , and 3 for out take for 3 pumps. I don't believe you would want 3 closed loops on a tank your size. Let's take a step back. What are the dimensions of your tank. L(7') x W(front to back) X H(30") ?.When Tunze streams are not used; A classic closed loop scenario would be as follows. On a 7' long tank with two closed loops, one method (when the bottom panel is tempered) would be to have 4 to 6 holes drilled for 1 1/2"(or 2") B.H's on the rear panel. Two holes would be for the pump intake and the remaining holes would be used to return water to your tank. Each pump would return through two B.H.'s to vary the circulation. Some people jazz this up with an electronic ball valve which will alternate the water flow between the two returning B.H.'s of each pump.(not needed on your set up) Your in the wall tank design will hide closed loops no matter where you place them, as long as they are in the lower 1/3 to 1/2 or so of the glass, where you can hide them with L.R. You stated that the tank must be against the back wall. With the sides of the tank hidden behind the wall, you could drill holes on the sides for B.H.'s and keep them hidden by the wall. However you will still need access to the pumps for possible repair,leaks,maintenance,etc. I can understand that you may be uncertain about the Streams in general and that you might want to have a closed loop as a back up. You can have the tank drilled and you can cap the B.H.'s off with a PVC end cap.

[Pomme]

yeah i was thinking of having it so that there were 3 closed loops so, will need to have 6 holes in the bottom

and was thinkof having it like this :



where the left and right hand side returns will be 1/3 of the way out from the back wall and the middle one will be at the back wall, as i am going to have two rock structures which come out, with the left large then the right, which are connected.

or would you suggest just two of the closed loops, as the deltec pumps i was thinking of using are the 5250's with a rating of 1280 g/h. with the return from the sump in the garage going up and over to add to the surface movement.

i am going to have a weir in this tank which is bascially just a box and bulkhead at water level height to run into a tank next to this one which will be a prop tank (which will have the weir which reyrns the water to the sump, so i may use two of the streams in theis tank?

[acropora]

Nice diagram. Is this going to be a new custom tank? If so,the returns back to the tank can come up from the bottom into your overflows and out the side of your overflows. Otherwise the back panel is a good way to go.What is behind the tank?

[Pomme]

nothing behind the tank, but just dont want any piping there so the tank doesnt stick out to far into the room, and i would be able to get there incase the plumbing went bad or something, and if i was to have it any firther out it would start blocking a window.

na im buying it second hand. there will be two tanks connected/siliconed together, one the 7x2.5x2 as the reef and the other one a 3x2.5.2 will be the frag tank, the frag tank will have the weir in it and the main tank will have the return from the sump (in the garage).