new to "big" tanks.... need advise

defs need a second pump dude i was so dumb when istarted went from 50 to 75 to 95 gallon in like 3 months lol finnaly got something i was happy with my heater died bought a cheap one the thermostat blew the heater exploded started shooting electricity into the wall set the room on fire ahaha bought a cheap skimmer had so many issues with the watr balance did tap water changes ended up an algae tank lol this isnt really related just thought you might enjoy it

 

I would also recommend Reefflo Pumps. I have 2 Hammerheads on my tank and love them.

I still don't think if you have 1 return pump and it fails you would have a tank crash in the time it took to repair or get a new pump. The cost and logistics of plumbing multiple returns would be a pain. If your really want the insurance why not just purchase a second pump to have as a stand-by.

At 1 time I built a new sump for my old 75G SPS tank. It was 10 days with not sump so no return and there wasn't a problem. you just can't rely on your returns as your major source of flow

 

A tank can definitely last without the flow from a return running. The things I worry about are that I don't have a heater in my DT and my skimmer is responsible for most of the gas exchange. If my return were to go out at lights out and I didn't see it my water would drop to the low 60's before morning.

 

Yes I see where that can be a problem
Reading The Reef Aquarium - 3 Volume by Delbeek & Sprung they performed a study of O2 increases by many different skimmers types, Needle wheel, down draft, and beckett and the only one that increase O2 levels was the Beckett. And even that was insignificant.
Most of you gas exchange takes place either at the surface or during photosynthesis

I guess if you want 2 returns who am I to say different. Just want to share my experience

J

 

Thanks for the replies all. My main thinking on the redundancy issue is that I go out of town a few times a year for 1 or 2 weeks at a time doing trade shows, and the people I have watch my tanks wouldn't be able to fix a broken pump.

For added flow I already have one Vortech MP40w that I need to get fixed (it was from the batch with bad bearings on the wet side) and I'd like to add one more for the wireless wave action. I'll probably also add a few mid/small Koralias for spot flow, like behind rock work, and back to front flow.

On a related subject, what do you all think of spray bars vs. the loc-lines? .. oh btw, the tank is a dual corner overflow with Megaflow kits, so it will come with 2 of the dual loc-line returns already. I was thinking about making a long rectangular spray bar that would go behind the rockwork and force water from back to front through said rocks, anyone done this, or have comments on such a design?

Anyways, this is going to be a long term build for sure. The tanks going to cycle for a couple months, if for no other reason than letting my budget recover. Right now all I am committed to financially is the tank. So keep the ideas coming, and thanks again!

-Doug

 

This will be a nightmare, plus extra power consumption.

Reeflo's are super quiet and move a lot of water. Once you get around the 180g+ range things change with tanks (bigger equipment, chillers..etc). I would get one large pump and plumb to a manifold for future expansions of equipment.

I also run a system similar to Jason. I have one HammerHead running the sump return and one running a Ocean Motion closed loop. If either of the pumps quit I will have water movement until I can fix the broken one.

With a 180g tank you are going to need to more water chaotic to keep SPS happy. I would look at some sort of CL to run. One of the factors that people seem to forget when they budget a tank is operating cost. Believe me, my wife reminds me of this every time the electric and water bill come in... :-/

 

I'm not sure I understand how having 2 return pumps is a problem if they're in the same return chamber. All of the flow will be going to the same place in the sump so there's no balancing needed that I can tell.
Granted, I've never tried it so if there's something I'm overlooking feel free to correct me. It will definitely be more power usage and more heat than one large return pump but redundancy might be worth it IMO.

As for locline/spray bars: I use locline just as an easy way to get the return into an unobtrusive place in the tank. I don't like the idea of using returns for flow in the tank though. For one thing it's constant laminar flow which can be difficult to deal with because you can end up with one area getting blasted by flow all the time which can make your sandbed get blasted away in one area or it might constantly blast a particular area of coral with water all the time which most coral don't like.
I like having nice diffuse return flow so that I leave all of the flow up to my vortechs which makes the flow in the tank much more chaotic and controllable. JMO.
I don't think spray bars are worth it. In order for them to make an impact in a tank that large you need a lage amount of pressure otherwise it will pretty much just trickle out so you would need a much bigger return pump which will use more electricity and will give you dubious benefits over just having enough flow in the tank itself. Remember, any flow from the sump is wasting a bunch of electricity because it is fighting head loss, I think it's best just to use it to maintain your filtration, anything more than that is an inefficient use of electricity.

If you want good flow in the tank just go with (at least) 2 MP40's and make sure to design your rockwork so flow can get behind the rocks as well, it will save you on electricity and heat in the tank.