frankthetank
Active Member
I have often heard this mentioned... what does it mean?
Closed Loop???
- Thread starter frankthetank
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hurt
Active Member
Water movement is the goal. If you have a large enough closed loop it eliminates the need for powerheads. You also have less heat transfer to the tank because of this. If your tank isn't drilled, you just use a peice of PVC and put and endcap on it, then drill many small holes in it for the intake. Simply run this PVC pipe up and over you tank, down to your external pump, then on the pumps discharge you plumb more PVC back into your tank. It is called a closed loop, because the water is "closed" the whole time through the loop. It never gets a chance to come into contact with air. I'll post some pics of mine later this evening.
scsinet
Active Member
A closed loop is nothing more than a pump that draws from the tank and just returns water to the tank. Think of it as like a table fan in a room. It doesn't filter the air, or cool or heat the air, all it does is move air around.
Just like Hurt said, all it does is move water around. Aquarists often employ them because of a few advantages...
- It can be cheaper: Using one large pump instead of multiple smaller powerheads can be cheaper in some instances.
- It can be more powerful: Bigger pumps means more flow.
- It doesn't add heat: By using an external pump instead of a submersible, you don't get heat in the water.
Just like Hurt said, all it does is move water around. Aquarists often employ them because of a few advantages...
- It can be cheaper: Using one large pump instead of multiple smaller powerheads can be cheaper in some instances.
- It can be more powerful: Bigger pumps means more flow.
- It doesn't add heat: By using an external pump instead of a submersible, you don't get heat in the water.
big
Active Member
Originally Posted by RickL
Would a canister filter be considered a "closed-loop"?
That's one way to think of it. A tiny closed loop. But it need to be on a much bigger scale.
But the advantages are great, far less heat transfer, better control , much greater water volume, more stable tank.....etc.
The one biggie that mine now has is its all in the basement except the DT. Nothing cluttering under the tank, and all the other stuff is out of the way downstairs. Helps with summer heat, but more heating required in the other months. But mine was costly and time consuming to build.... Warren
Would a canister filter be considered a "closed-loop"?
That's one way to think of it. A tiny closed loop. But it need to be on a much bigger scale.
But the advantages are great, far less heat transfer, better control , much greater water volume, more stable tank.....etc.
The one biggie that mine now has is its all in the basement except the DT. Nothing cluttering under the tank, and all the other stuff is out of the way downstairs. Helps with summer heat, but more heating required in the other months. But mine was costly and time consuming to build.... Warren