Help me circulate water in a 9' long tank to be (URGENT)

[Anonymous]

Do you think that it would be possible to have the closed loop NOT cut into the tank by having it draw in from just below the water line with a vertical pipe coming out through the top and then having a surge tank or outlet pipe also coming in through the top of the tank? It may be difficult to prime the external pump, but maybe this could be a possible solution to avoid cutting the tank? You would just see a few inches of pipe sticking down into the tank just below the water line.

I run my closed loops up and over the back of my tank. There are no additional bulkheads installed on my tank for the closed loops, which is nice because I can change my mind repeatedly about the best location for the plumbing. I use black PVC pipe for the plumbing, and it really isn't all that noticable in the tank.

I set up my loops so that the one of the returns blows across the bottom of the tank and the other one was through an oceansmotions squirt that rotated the output through 4 locline outputs near the top of the tank.
You can see the pics of the plumbing in this shot

The loop's intakes are one of the black tubes you see in the center and on the right, and they are drilled with tons of small holes.

Once the rockwork was put in you can't really see the plumbing at all.
Hidden Loop Pic

I prefer this method to drilling. You might lose some head pressure with the addition elbows that are required to get the pipe up and over the bank, but the flexibility is worth it IMO.

 

[Kevin207]

There are no additional bulkheads installed on my tank for the closed loops, which is nice because I can change my mind repeatedly about the best location for the plumbing.

Hehe....I am that type of person too. :lol:

Any problems with all those small holes getting plugged? How do you keep the free of debris and algae growth? Scraper with a long handle?

Thanks for the photos too

 

[Anonymous]

Do you think that it would be possible to have the closed loop NOT cut into the tank by having it draw in from just below the water line with a vertical pipe coming out through the top and then having a surge tank or outlet pipe also coming in through the top of the tank? It may be difficult to prime the external pump, but maybe this could be a possible solution to avoid cutting the tank? You would just see a few inches of pipe sticking down into the tank just below the water line.

Borneman surge tank design sounds great, but I will have to weigh whether or not the slosh sound and salt creep are worth it.

I am getting closer to the end solution for this case, I can feel it

Yes you can go up and ovet without having to drill a hole. Just make sure to pipe the piping befoe you start it up the first time and anytime you drain it for maintenance. You do need to pull from deep tho. Is is a pic of my up and over the intake for the CL is on the far right.

 

[Anonymous]

There are no additional bulkheads installed on my tank for the closed loops, which is nice because I can change my mind repeatedly about the best location for the plumbing.

Hehe....I am that type of person too. :lol:

Any problems with all those small holes getting plugged? How do you keep the free of debris and algae growth? Scraper with a long handle?

Thanks for the photos too

I've never had any problem with the holes getting plugged. I think I ended up putting in 23 times as many holes as I needed, so even if most of them got covered it would still draw fine. Occasionally something large (like a sheet of nori) would blow into it and I had to reach in with a long pair of hemostats to pull it out, but it wasn't ever much of an issue.

Sorry about the wide pic distorting page 2 of your thread. I can't resize any pics at the moment and I can't upload any new ones, those just happen to be pics I had already uploaded to RDO. So sorry again for making this page a bit difficult to read. I delete the second pic now that you have seen it.

 

[Anonymous]

Intake of cloose loop need to be deep because if not it will suck in air and cause bubble in tank. Intake also cannot be inside the overflow box for the same reason.

:? Look at the intake of any external pump in a drilled sump. You can have it sit in as little as 6" of water and not suck air. You just have to place a downward facing elbow inside.

I've done it several times inside overflows with standpipes.

 

[Kevin207]

Wavyseas are like seaswirls, and IMO they look better, smaller, easier to mount, use a little less electricity, and go the full 360 degrees.

I have ordered one WavySea for my 120 gallon tank (for my sump return), along with one VorTech. That was a LOT of money. But they both look like excellent products. I can't wait to set them up!

If I don't use them in the 9' tank in the future, I could always keep the 4' tank up and running too... :roll:

 

[Kevin207]

Thank you all for all your input and information.

Now I have a more options than I was aware of (surge tanks, closed loops with and without cutting the tank, etcetera). I think I will not have them cut the tank for closed loops and consider using a surge tank or closed loops with dark pipe drawing from the top of the tank and returning in the same location.

I did notice that Tunze had fake rocks your could put in your tank to hide the circulators...maybe I could use these on some outlets or inlets.

I'll go order the tank today before I lose out on a deal that ends today on it.

Thanks again