Closed loop?

Crap, how would I close it off to clean it?

 

ive seen pictures of all sorts of setups. the one that stands out as the most 'cleanable' was one that had a ball valve on each bulkhead with a union. you could then shut the valve and dismantle the closed loop to clean it out if needed.

ive seen others that were just 4 holes in each corner with PVC going to each with a oceanmotion in the middle controlling it with no way to take it apart with valves and unions at the pump so you could atleast clean that.

 

I was thinking of the ball valve idea, but forgot about threaded. That would work great so I could disconnect it. How big of a pump should I get? I have 3.5 - 5 feet head. But I'm trying to have the pump in the room under my stairs, so just behind the wall. This will be my equipment/storage room.

 

My return pump(in sump) will be an Eheim 1260, running near 500gph, accounting for 5ft of head. Could I go with an Eheim 1262 for the closed loop? At almost 0 head(pump will be at same height as the tank), this pump alone would be 900gph. Would the 1262 be enough flow for the closed loop?

If I did this DIY(if the 1262 works) it won't be much more than the 3 koralia evo 750's, I had originally planned for.

 

I have the ball valve system. its a pita to clean or even try to disassemble. plus the flow is not worth it, I could add another new koralia and have much better flow. take my advice, dont do it. I hate mine. hate hate hate..

 

a ball valve. Then they make some kind of pvc connection you can screw into each other so you easily disconnect pipes.

hopefully you wont have to clean too much if you have a prefilter/screen on the intakes.

 

At least with bama's experience, it doesn't seem to be so easy...
-How far away from the wall is your tank, bama?

-Are there any others here who have closed loop? (please chime in) What are your thoughts on having one?

-It seems for now, I would be better off to stick with my orginial plan of 3 evo 750's. I'll just have to do a good job of the hiding game.

 

here are some early pics of my CL. The pump has been changed for a larger and better model but still sucks. Here are the below and above shots. My CL does not go through the back of my tank at all..

 

Just get really pretty fish and corals and you just forget the koralias are there.. so does everyone who sees the tank

 

i'm happy with my closed loop on my 75 - been up and running for a few months now.

here's my posts on putting the tank together, there are some pics:

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/my-new-75-setup-86070.html#post870550

i think bama isn't happy because he's got a small pump (mag something?) blowing out four different ends all the time -with that you're not gonna get much flow at all.

i've got a reeflo snapper 18 (1200 or 1600 gph, cant' remember) going thru a 4-way oceans motions that spins the output through 4 different returns one at a time, so each output blows the full force of the pump when it's going, and the rotation changes outputs every 20 or 30 seconds or so.

i previously had used koralia's in my 75 and had dead spots and settled debris, then cyano. with the new setup the food and debris don't settle, so they get to come down into my sump and settle there where i can suck it out with water changes.

for cleaning, i used true union ball valves (25 bucks apiece) on each of the output lines and on the return to the cl pump. that way i can isolate the pump, take off the head and clean it out. the ocean's motions comes apart with 2 allen screws so you can clean it's rotating drum. the line that draws off the tank to the cl has a strainer on it, i just unscrew that by hand every month or so and wash off anything that gets stuck to it.

it's not cheap - pump was 180, om was about 200, the true union ball valves cost a bunch. but it's really not much more than using these newer powerhead/wavemaker setups, expecially vortech.

you really do have to plan it out so that you can access the system for cleaning. i haven't had to clean much yet, but that was a big part of planning - I ended up making my stand quite tall so it would be easy to work in the sump/pump compartment below for maintanence.

when looking at a pump, get a big one - you can always down throttle with a valve if you need to. the biggest benefit of the cl other than the clean look is that your pump won't heat the water like a bunch of PH's will. also, because you're running a closed loop your head pressure about 0.

hope this helps!