Circulation for Nano

[mykgillespie]

Hello Everyone,
I'm looking for suggestions for an Oceanic 30 cube nano-reef that I'm setting up. I'm planning on keeping mostly LPS and Softies so I'm looking more for volume of flow not velocity. I'm having the tank drilled with 2 holes on each side of the back wall to set up two closed loops hooked up to a wave timer. I'm looking for suggestions on hole size and GPH recommendations to produce a large volume of flow over the reef but without pinning down the corals or blowing the water out of the tank. Any suggestions or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Myk.

 

[overanalyzer]

Are you going to be running down toa sump/refugium??
If so a smaller mag pump hooked up to a scwd wavemaker would provide good alternating current. That would be a pretty cool little system IMO ... I would look for some outlet/spray bar ideas and make you hole size judgement from there. I think you would want to look @ some of the lock line stuff (sorry not sure if that is the exact company name - could also be lok line or loc line).
If you are just moving water without a sump or fug then a couple of maxi-jets??
Personally if you are willing to get it drillel a nice closed loop system with a small MAG pump would rock!!
Good luck!

 

[mykgillespie]

I've never run a Mag pump in-line before, do you think that it would be safe for long term operation?

 

[bdhough]

If you are going to drill y not set up a 10 or 20 gallon sumpt to add volume of water to the tank. You can then place the filtration down there and keep the very nice oceanic cube clutter free. I guess if you pump back through the other hole there is one power head. I would have two other small power heads. The smallest you can get are Rio 50's. They do about 50-60 gph. Next size up Rio is the 90 which does 80ish i think. The Rio 180 does over 100 gph. DOn't buy any RIO over that. They get very loud. You won't notice any of those three. Those are the cheapest power heads. For something a little step up go with maxijets. Try the 2 smallest ones you can get with them. IF i remember right they are around 100-120 gph. If you blow both of these to the front of the tank in conjunction with a full overflow or half box overflow then that should make a nice swirl in your tank. As far as size holes go with 3/4 inch since its a smaller tank. If you can find 1/2 inch bulk heads then you might want to try those....
For lighting, SINCE you are spending mucho on the tank might as well try and look for a halide pendant to hang over the tank. I think the cubes are 20x20x20? Is that right? Your next bet which will also allow you to keep most of what you want is a power quad pc's by corallife. Its a 20 inch 96 watt fixture. If it's 24 inch then go to the dual 65 watter they make.... Obviously the PC's would be cheaper.

 

[mykgillespie]

Thanks for the input. I'll give you the plan for the tank.
AB Aqualine 250W 10K Pendant W/Coralife Moonlight
Remora Protein skimmer with Pre-Skimmer box
AquaClear 300 to hold Jalli 200W titanium heater and drilled to hold an IceProbe chiller (both run by a Medusa Contoller) and for occasional carbon use.
3/4" Rainbow Lifeguard black drain elbow and strainer draining to a 5.5 gallon refugium w/coralife mini-might P.C. fixture.
Everything that is going to be in the aquarium (equipment) is going to be black and the back of the tank is going to be painted black. For the 2 closed loops I would like to use black strainers for the intakes and black lock-line nozzles for the outputs. With the 5.5 gallon fuge underneath in the stand, I can fit 2 Rainbow Lifeguard QuietOne pumps and a Wavemaster Pro, but am afraid that the QuietOnes will be much too powerful even if I use 1" bulkheads for the returns. So what I would prefer to do is find a reliable in-line pump that will only push about 250 to 300 GPH without having to cut them back with ball valves. Looking at my gear list above I think I could probably use some suggestions on a good return pump (submersible) for my fuge that will return only about 15 to 20 GPH at 4' of head. I wonder if one of those Rios would do the trick or should I opt for something more powerful as space will be very limited in the fuge.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions guys.
Myk.

 

[overanalyzer]

Depending on how much space you have to push a Mag 4 (do they make one) would be 400 gph but if you have to pump it uyp a few feet that would cut your flow down ...
pretty sweet set-up all in all!! I really like the scwd for a wavemaker - cheaper and provides alternating current ... can be used in or outside the tank .... trying to figure out a way to get one inside my 20 .... or build a refugium set-up nex to the 20 .....
anyhow - I'd think if you went with a scwd and pumped throughg the scwd into the tank with the lock line nozels then ytou'd be right around 300 gph ...

 

[mykgillespie]

One of my co-workers uses the SCWD on his Oceanic Stretch Hex and he really likes it. He has only had it for a few weeks though and I'm concerned about the long-term with it. Have you used one for a long time? If so does it still perform well? Also, can you control it in any way or or does it just switch on it's own depending on how fast the water is flowing through it?
My circulating pumps will be in a closed loop, so head pressure wont be an issue. I'm pretty sure that there is a Mag 2.5, but I'm nervous using a Mag in-line since I've never done it before and the gaskets on the Mags that I've opened up in the past seem kind of flimsy. Do you think it would be safe to run the Mag in-line?

 

[bdhough]

Nice. You aren't buying quantity but quality for sure.....
Be sure to find a halide light that has supplemental pc's with it. YOu need to provide actinics for the corals you will have. I'm pretty sure moonlights wont cut it...
As far as your pump worries go you may want to just use a power head for the pump. That seems to be what you are thinking. There are plenty out there that will run 250-300 gph. I wouldn't get a RIO though. Very loud. And most have flow control of some kind so you can play with things a bit.
And my 2 cents get a 10 gallon sump if you can....

 

[overanalyzer]

my scwd has only been up and running for a shorttime (cycle finished in august and it has been running since 6 weeks before the cycle).
From what I have been able to tell the worst thing that would happen is hte rotating joint/ball in the center would get stuck in one position and you would have all water flow diverted out one side .... it never fully closes off though so I don't think it could back flow into your sump.
You control it by the amount of water you put into it ... so a ball valve prior would slow the flow rate down - or a lower powered pump head.
I use a MAG 12 in line out of my sump as a return as do a lot of other folks ....
I'm jealous of your set-up - post for us some pictures once you get it going!!

 

[mykgillespie]

Hi Guys,
I'll try to factor in some P.C.'s are they still necessary even if I go with a 10K HQI? The moonlight would be stricktly for effect thats all, I like "shimmer"
I know that I could use a couple of maxi-jets to serve the purpose, but with such a small tank I'm really set on the closed loops to keep as much gear out of the tank as possible. My thought is that with a Black Painted back wall, black bulkheads, black strainer, and black lock-line will be almost invisible.
You're right on with the quality idea, I never even considered a nano tank until I started to see what people were putting up on this forum and how great the photos looked and thought of how perfect it would be to have a reef with nothing but the best and actually not having to beg my Wife to allow the purchases!
Hence my 30 cube project. It's going to be a good feeling to start collecting my equipment and not having to cut corners or buy cheap gear and tell myself that I can just upgrade later.
Yes, I will definitely post some pics of the "Cube Project" as it starts to realize. Again, I thank you for the input guys.
Myk.