Cali Kid Corals

Looking for ideas on Closed Loop pump

Well - I'd like to get started on planning this monstrosity of a tank.

I'm thinking of Reeflow Snapper or Octopus Water Blaster 3000 or 5000

My goal is to keep the closed loop pump around or under 100 watts.

Advice, comments, suggestions welcome
 
If your going for energy efficient, I think you nailed it. I was going to get a reeflo, however after talking with Gimmito and doing some more research, I decided two smaller pumps as my return would give me some redundancy, so I am going with two Waterblaster 5000. However the Reeflo would have won out if I was only doing one return pump.

Good luck, I think both those options are great.
 
Kmooresf said:
If your going for energy efficient, I think you nailed it. I was going to get a reeflo, however after talking with Gimmito and doing some more research, I decided two smaller pumps as my return would give me some redundancy, so I am going with two Waterblaster 5000. However the Reeflo would have won out if I was only doing one return pump.

Good luck, I think both those options are great.

Just what he said... 2x WB over 1 RF
 
I tend to agree with the 2xWB as well.
I used 2 x Pan-World on return, which only 2 years ago had really good specs.
But an interesting other advantage to duals: You can shut one down for a day or so to
soak for cleaning, and it does not really matter to the tank.
Which makes it more likely that you will clean.

One negative with WB/Reeflo though - heat transfer.
The Reeflo, with the separation between motor and impeller, has really low heat transfer.
I have not seen specs on the water blaster, but looking at the unified design,
it would be very surprising if it is as good.
Of course, in a cool area, that heat transfer is not always a negative.

It should also be noted that Reeflo no longer makes the higher end "Gold" version
with the Baldor motor in the Dart/Snapper model.
 
I ran a Dart on that system. Biggest issue you are going to have is if you run an OM 4 way or something else to alternate the flow into the outputs. It really knocks down the flow from the CL pump significantly.

I was very tempted to close up the bulkheads and ditch the CL on that tank altogether many times.
 
You are assuming the stand is not enclosed with such a statement as above ;)

Heat in a enclosed stand will heat the water just as effectively as a pump in water :)

non Baldor = crap to me. I only purchased the Baldor units for a reason :D
 
Also this is a tank in San Francisco, having heat added to the tank is not a bad thing. :)

Although aren't the pumps for a CL typically outside of the tank water itself? I know you can put it in the tank water, but seems to me that having the least amount of turns and bends is the most beneficial design (i.e. usually not in the water, aka sump). Are those water blasters designed to run outside the tank?

As to the CL ideas... I've run through my mind various different ideas over the years. It really all comes down to what you want it to do? With a 100W ceiling on your pumps, you'll probably want to limit yourself to two MAYBE three outputs max, and then smaller outputs as you increase the outputs it tends to get surprising how little flow you get.
 
The sump will be in the stand along with the majority of the equipment.

The return will be an Eheim 1262 (why, because I have them) - although I do have (potentially 3 - if I ever get my third one back).

The way how the sump is configured I can run the return pump either internally or externally.

No OM this go around - just plain old water movement :)

Two mp40 vortechs for additional flow

I am leaning towards no sand
 
Oh, that tank! Yummy. Whatever you decide, try it out first while you can still mess with it. You may want to cap some outlets or branch off others. Running some water through it will give you an idea of what size nozzles to use and how many outlets you can have while still getting good flow out of them. Do you want forcefull laminar flow directed at a bare bottom? Or soft difuse flow? Play with it first! It's always surprising how much or how little flow you'll get out of different outlets the first time you see it
 
Eileen,

I have a extra snapper and water blaster laying around if you want to try them out. I would forego the OM's as Bryan mentioned and go with a couple of sea swirls instead. :)
 
gimmito said:
Eileen,

I have a extra snapper and water blaster laying around if you want to try them out. I would forego the OM's as Bryan mentioned and go with a couple of sea swirls instead. :)

Ditto on the OM... flow killers they are!
 
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