Oceans Motions or alternative?

Hello all,

I'm hard at work designing my reef system, but to now it is mostly in my head. I'm in the process of sizing my tank, sump, pumps, reactors, plumbing, lighting and so on and so forth. So many pieces to put together and so little money.

I'm looking at a roughly 130-180 gallon tank. It will be built into a cabinet which will be a room divider, so basically it is a peninsula tank viewable on both long and one short side. I want to locate all my plumbing at the cabinet end.

I don't like the looks of a bunch of powerheads and such in my tank so I am thinking of a closed loop system. My initial thought was to have an OM 4-way on the closed loop and 1-2 wavy seas on the sump return.

I have heard of Oceans Motions valves, but I don't have much information about them. I haven't been able to get on their website yet as it appears to be down. I also find very few distributors of the device.

Does anybody know of any alternatives for a closed loop system? Any links to suppliers, etc.

By the way, a large part of this idea is owed to Otty whose tank building threads I read through with great interest. Nice work on those Otty.

Steve

 

Otty is the man with the plan. I would suggest using a Oceans Motions valve. I run one on my tank and love it. What kind of pump would you be using for the closed loop? I run 2 little giants on my closed loop and I would say it's minimal flow for a 180... Just a thought.

 

you could also do a SCWD(switching current water director.) they are fairly cheap. ive never used one but about to. i belive alot of people on here use them.
might not be what your looking for(this is just to switch current coming from return

 

I run an Ocean Motions 4 way and Love it. I have used the SCWD in the past on smaller tanks but over time they jam and need soaking to get them to work again. Once my Ocean Motion was set up it needs zero maintenance.

I would recommend it to anyone.

J

 

If you are on a limited budget or just want another option, SCWD is way to go.

SCWD—Squid—Wavemaker (MarineDepot)

Can use one, or a couple, depending on amount of flow you want.

My first lasted about 6 years, by taking out and soaking couple of times a year.

Are known to fail, but you just lose alternating wave function till you fix.

Some well document "mods" on web if you want to increase flow...

Keep us posted.

 

Here is another option that is relatively new. Don't know if anyone here has tried out yet.

Hydor Koralia Controllable Pumps & Wavemakers (DFS)

May not fit your needs as you mentioned you did not want powerheads in tank.

8)

 

I was looking at a Barricuda or Hammerhead for this, something slightly smaller for my sump.

Anyone know where an Oceans Motions can be picked up online and delivered internationally?

 

Ocean Motions only sells direct.
Paul the owner is a great guy and is always ready to call you up and chat about what you need.

Here is the store url
OCEANMOTIONS
He does ship Internationally but the store is based on US dollers (Even though he is in Canada) and it includes shipping within Canada and the US

J

 

I agree with Jason. I just picked up a 4 way from Paul and he literally built the unit in front of me so I understood how it works from the ground up and can service them as required. Very smart fellow with a good handle on reef flow dynamics. He also has other useful water control devices and showed me some new ideas he is working on that will surely be heard of reel soon.

 

OM Webiste Down

Hello once again,

Well, it appears that the OM website is down. In fact it has been down since before I started this thread and I have never been able to see what information is there.

I have found a website in Australia that sells these and was thinking about ordering it from there and having a friend carry it to me.

Any owners out there who can give me a rough idea of the size and weight of one of these things?

Thanks all,
Steve