Pre-build planning-400ish gallon tank

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Yes

The OM's introduce heat. I'll try and see if I can rouse a friend who used his and see what he thinks.

 

What sort of scale of heat are we talking? I have a spare 75g that I was going to set up as a refugium and then another tank of similar size for a sump. I could be off, but I *think* a couple large(12-14" fans blowing across the top of the sump and fuge should provide enough evaporative cooling to keep things in check.

 

I think that you're probably correct.

With that said, it's better to get the opinion of someone whose actually run OM's rather than someone who is just guessing.

 

Absolutely. Heat is a worry on this between lighting and all the pumps required to run it. I am now starting to look more and more into running MP40's or Tunze 6205 or 6305's and supplementing with a few big(koralia magnums, modded MJ's, etc) if needed.. Assuming I can't find a distributor to play nice with me on the build, the cost for them would fall in line with or be cheaper than the closed loop idea.

EDIT: This is something I am going back and forth on big time. I seriously prefer the clean look sans-powerheads but it seems like the tradeoff is more heat introduced and obviously a lot less flexibility once built. You mentioned redundancy-I work for/run an IT firm, access at large scale battery backups is a cinch and powerheads draw a LOT less then beefy pumps.

 

This one is 2 side viewable
Reef Central Online Community - 220gal Plywood/steel hybrid. Pull up a chair, this will take a while.

Then there is this monster that is 3 sides viewable
fingerlakesreef.com • View topic - 1000 build thread

btw, the guys on fingerlakes are the woody gurus. There is a TON of great reading there for woody's. But they have not answered my direct questions, so I went to RC and found a guy that is on fingerlakes to answer my questions. LOL

 

I am currently posting from rainy, humid philly meeting the future inlaws.

Found a place that we really, really like in the area we are scoping for and I am heading out Thursday while I am in the office to check it out. Has a sunroom off the back with a perfect empty 10ft+ long wall right over the partially finished basement.

 

My friend thinks you are fine based on what you've posted.

 

after reading all of this, I cant wait to see this all in action..

 

Now, my tank is no where near the scale of what you want, but some of the equipment may translate. Talking over with a few, here's the deal with the OM's. They do produce quite a bit of heat. And, they also suck up a ton of electricity. It can be really deceptive, because they do seem like such a simple device. If you're planning on running a chiller and what not, then sure, might as well add them. I wanted to keep running costs down with my build, so I decided against them. I used as few pumps as possible.
You can drive all your reactors, skimmer, etc off of the return pumps using a manifold. You may even look into something like the Tunze wavemakers. You could run two of them and get plenty of flow, and not have to deal with the closed loop logistics completely.

 

I've had just the opposite experience with my OM 4 way.

In fact, with adding the Reeflow Dart 3600 GPH pump and the OM 4-way, the tank didn't get any hotter at all.
It's my pressure pump for the skimmer and returns that makes all the heat.
As far as electricity goes, I doubt the OM itself draws much electricity at all.
Its motor is only 7.5 watts on 110 volts, so that's only 0.068 amps maximum that it draws.