Closed loop canister system question.

lodestone · Jun 2, 2023

Well before we begin I made this algea reactor to grow in line with UV upstream.

It is actually working great, algea has doubled in size in about week. My ugly staged tank is not so ugly, I even see hints that corralline algea is growing.

The issue I am having is the length of tubing going up and down, that canister flow has greatly been reduced. To the point the upper skimmer and suction is not working like it should.

I could assume about 100gph to 50gph. Not enough for my 75g tank.

So I am ordered a Vectra S2 and will pipe it downstream of the UV light which is right after the algea grower. This should greatly reduce the ft head the canister has to push against. S2 is variable speed and will go onto feed mode with my mp10 and mp40. It will be tubed inline. The S2 also gives 11.3' feet of head pressure I only need about 5' at that point of connection.

Is there anything I am not considering that would make this not work or issues I may run into?

A sump is not a real option for me, I am limited on space and I want it silent running as possible.

kzenoni · Jun 2, 2023

If you are thinking more of a booster pump, I see no issue. Good luck

lodestone · Jun 4, 2023

kzenoni said:
If you are thinking more of a booster pump, I see no issue. Good luck

Added a closed loop booster pump. There are no issues with low flow anymore. I also like being able to put all pumps into feed mode. I think my canister filters with all the ups and turns in tubing was only putting out like 50gph. Now it's much better. I am pretty sure I could hit 700gph to 1000gph, but I got it dailed back to 350gph to 400gph. I would say I could get max flow out of the booster, but the suction lined is bottleneck by a smaller diameter tube.

The algea grower has a small inlet of 3/8. I am sure an engineer would love to do the math on that bottleneck.

There is no sense in risking cavitation of centrifugal pump either. I love how quite it all is.

I also added a battery backup, maybe 48hour run time. I cleaned algea reactor too, it was full.