Rygh's 250 gallon upgrade

[rygh]

Since I am waiting on my LEDs, and I had issues with fairly coarse sand blowing around,
been thinking about power heads and flow

My unchanged concept is for the "main flow" to be a forward gyre, where water flows back to front on top,
down front face, back across bottom, and up back of tank, with the addition of
some sort of turbulent flow from each end.

The latest crazy idea is to have a series of small powerheads at the very top back wall,
facing forward. I will make some special brackets to hold them up very high,
and at the very back, with small blue plate on top, to block light and whirlpools.
Probably use the 750 or 1050 GPH small korallia. Maybe 6 of them, about one every foot.
See drawing enclosed.

I was originally going to have Mag-7 power heads on the ends, providing extra turbulence,
but those were simply too strong as-is.
Sand moving was one thing. But I would not want to be a fish or coral and get hit by that jet.
Got some ideas there as well, but needs refining.

Crazy? Opinions welcome.

Attached files /attachments/sites/default/files/pump_idea.jpg

 

[Coral reefer]

The big koralias provide much more gentle flow even when moving a lot of water than most pumps with a smaller more concentrated outlet... Did you mean koralia magnum 7, or mag drive 7? Probably never mind then... Duh

 

[rygh]

Yes, I meant the big Koralia magnum 7.
Agree, it is certainly more gently than an external pump with a high velocity nozzle.
But there is still a lot of power/velocity in the stream. In my opinion - too much.

As comparison: Probably closer to a breaking wave on the reef than the surge from swells.

 

[Coral reefer]

I'd be willing to trade 3sand or 4s for a 7 or two...

 

[rygh]

I'd be willing to trade 3sand or 4s for a 7 or two...

PM sent.

 

[JAR]

VORTECH
MP40's or MP60's

 

[rygh]

VORTECH
MP40's or MP60's

Can't. No clearance on the outside of the tank. Right next to the wall.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

That's what hole saws are for

 

[JAR]

OUCH!
I don't know what I would do without my MP40's.
I love not having wires in my tank.
Wanna borrow my sawzall?

 

[rygh]

Yes, I really considered putting a bunch of holes in the wall.
Pretty much impossible now, with the tank there.
(Unless I go in from the other side, through shower wall)
I have two MP10s now on my old tank.
I love the small footprint inside the tank. Although other than that huge plus, I
don't really like them all that much.

 

[houser]

(Unless I go in from the other side, through shower wall)

Make it viewable from the shower - that's what this is missing! Jon can help you with that I'm sure.

 

[rygh]

(Unless I go in from the other side, through shower wall)

Make it viewable from the shower - that's what this is missing! Jon can help you with that I'm sure.

Love it.
So I had to search, and yep, it has been done before. There is always someone.

http://www.lafishguys.com/4-%20ShowerTank001.htm

 

[JAR]

Waterproofing nightmare.

 

[tuberider]

In order to get a gyre going you need more distance to get a solid roll going, a back to front "gyre" will only succeed in pushing detritus under your rock work and create turbulence in the front of the tank, which in turn will starve corals of flow that reside towards the back of the tank.

 

[rygh]

In order to get a gyre going you need more distance to get a solid roll going, a back to front "gyre" will only succeed in pushing detritus under your rock work and create turbulence in the front of the tank, which in turn will starve corals of flow that reside towards the back of the tank.

Yep, think you are right.
Some initial testing is showing a bit of a gyre, but not great. (28" across does allow for it to get started a bit)
But it does seem to be nicely blowing crud into the rock which settles at the lower back of the tank.
And good point about all the turbulence being in the front (top-front specifically), basically where I do not need it.

I think I might just need a bit more diffuse flow in the ends, using the old setup.
The Korallia Mag-7s just have too powerful of a single jet.
I could use two power heads at half the rate or less, or I could build a deflector.

A bit tempting to put a small powerhead IN the rock as well, pushing crud out.

 

[tuberider]

I circulate my rocks as well as the water column.

If you want to run a gyre your best bet is to have strong laminar flow, so the K7s may not be a bad choice, it's really more of a placement issue. Successful gyre tanks alternate direction a few times a day, it takes longer than most people think to get the rotation going due to the amount of energy a pump puts out vs the amount of resistance a large mass of water contains. Using four pumps alternating between two of them every few hours can create clockwise and counterclockwise rotations.

edit: Pumps should be place where they have the longest distance to cover, that way you push a larger volume of water, on the ends of the tank.

 

[rygh]

Interesting idea. I will do a quick test a wavemaker by hand, alternating sides, every hour or so.

 

[tuberider]

If I were smart person, I'd sketch you up a little thingie on the computer, but I'm not. Anyway, if you place two water moving devices on either side of the tank, one near the front, one near the back you can get a decent gyre going by alternating between left front, right rear, and left rear and right front. Obviously you'd have only two pumps running at any given time.

 

[rygh]

If I were smart person, I'd sketch you up a little thingie on the computer, but I'm not. Anyway, if you place two water moving devices on either side of the tank, one near the front, one near the back you can get a decent gyre going by alternating between left front, right rear, and left rear and right front. Obviously you'd have only two pumps running at any given time.

No worries, I understand.
A problem with a horizontal gyre like that is in the way the rockwork is placed, but might work.
I may try a vertical first.
(But this time right/left, not forward)
Two pumps at the top ends on each side, alternating 2 left, then 2 right.
An advantage is that the surface has basically no friction, so easy to get going that way.
A disadvantage is that the return along the bottom is all driven by the gyre, not pump assisted,
so will be slower. Although gentler.

 

[tuberider]

Either way will work, make sure to circulate behind the rocks, a circular gyre will not do too much for the bottom of the tank either so it's best to over circulate rather than under circulate.

(I use Maxi mods to circulate behind the rocks FWIW)