Tropical Fish Keeping banner

no powerheads

3K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  caferacermike 
#1 ·
Well I finaly did it I had to move my tank so I can start building the stand and wall for the 125 inwall I am setting up. well I had to remove all the rock work from the tank. I had 4 powerheads in the 75 gallon reef tank. I have always had trouble keeping the temp down even with a chiller. I was wondering Is it posible or safe to not use any powerheads if you have the tank cycle 10 times per hour with the main pump? I was thinking about having three inlets. so I don't have dead spots. Well this is just a thought I have already bought 3 new power heads all Koralia 4's. but I can resell If I don't need them?

Roger
 
#2 ·
Yes you can but I think you are way to far along to switch paths at this point. You will need a "closed loop" system. You won't want your sump/fuge turning over super fast or it won't work properly. Normally people will go for a pump rated 30 times their tank volume for a closed loop since so much of the GPH will be lost in the piping restrictions. You'll need to have your tank drilled 4-6 times. Usually a 2" hole near the top of the water protected by a mini calfo or weir. Then you will have about 3-4 1" holes drilled in the bottom of the tank and a couple of 1" holes drilled in the back or the sides, all of these will be returns. The idea is to have the 2" go to the suction side of the pump and then build a manifold to supply water back to all of the returns. This will allow the pump to run on cruise control and push water all over the tank. This is supplemental to what is going on with the sump and the 2 are not connected. A Reeflo Dart is probably the smallest I would even attempt to use on a 125g tank as a closed loop. Some people use Ocean Motion Squirts to redirect the flow. I've heard some people that run them wish they hadn't. They restrict the flow to one outlet at a time. The owners had wished to have more flow through the entire tank and not just in one place at a time.

I'm still surprised to read about your overheating tank. My 75g has a huge amount of halide directly over it (6" above the water), an Eheim 1262 return pump, Tunze 6080 stream, Seio M620, and Euroreef skimmer and yet my water temp never goes above 82. Do you not run air conditioning? Do you keep heaters in the tank? I hear to often about them clicking on when not needed. I don't run them at all. What return pumps and what skimmers are you using? I'm betting they could be the culprit. Bad return pumps make a lot of heat.
 
#4 ·
For those that do not know, some inline (non submersible) pumps do make a lot of heat. I can't remember if it was the Panworld pumps (I think that was what I was told), but at least one similar generated over 6F of heat to a friends 120g tank. He bought it as a replacement for an Iwaki and never had any heat issues before that. Turns out that some of the polymers used to make the pump heads have so much friction as to cause the water to heat as it is rubbed over the impeller housing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top