Want To Pick Your Brain in Large Cube Tanks: Who's got one?

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naterealbig

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If you did a hood on top of the tank you could suck all the humidity out and direct it outside.

I evacuate my hood and the fishroom air directly outside. This way my 700g+ of total water volume adds 0% humidity to the house air.

They key is sizing your evacuation fan for a slight negative pressure in the room and hood. Some people really don’t like hoods but if your interested I can post a few photos.

I really don't want a traditional hood sitting on top of the Aquarium. I am envisioning an open-top design. However, i am considering hanging lights/fixtures above the display. Perhaps i could incorporate some active air evacuation above the lights in a hood format (stainless perhaps?). This probably wouldn't be very poor with respect to containment though. Thoughts?
 
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naterealbig

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You would be pretty silly to discount the advantage of a closed loop in a tank that big. Plus you can get a DC jebao to push 4,000 gph using 110 watts.

Quite the opposite - i have put a lot of thought and effort into a closed loop system for many of my setups. The larger the tank, the less efficient and more problematic the closed loop system becomes, however. To achieve the flow I'm looking for i would need ~ 8 x Jaebo you mentioned - this equates to up to 16x bulkhead penetrations, and maintenance on 8 pumps, + minimum of 8 amps to run.

And the flow rates you mention are nominal. Absolute best flow scenario, i am mounting the pumps directly to the back or underneath the tank. This would be a nightmare for maintenance. Then you consider potential leaks, or the fact that i would not consider Jaebo in my equipment lineup. I want reliable equipment that lasts, and the less maintenance i have to do, the more likely it is to get done.

i could cut back on the number of pumps i am using by utilizing a larger pump. Abyzz would be my first choice, but the pumps are out of my price range. Reeflo is an option, but now noise, power consumption, and seal maintenance in addition to normal removal/cleaning are a consideration.

I guess i could see the advantage if i wasn't targeting 30,000 gal/hr of circulation flow... do you think i am overestimating the flow needs?
 

A_CoupleClowns

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I really don't want a traditional hood sitting on top of the Aquarium. I am envisioning an open-top design. However, i am considering hanging lights/fixtures above the display. Perhaps i could incorporate some active air evacuation above the lights in a hood format (stainless perhaps?). This probably wouldn't be very poor with respect to containment though. Thoughts?

I think that would work. Maybe use just a little bigger fan? Suck the humid air out of the room and evacuate it right outside. You can hook the fan setup to a humidistat and your good to go.

As long as the air evac was semi close to the top of the tank it should work pretty good. A vent with strong air suction some where close above the tank would suck the air into it. **All of it or enough? I don’t know for sure.**

This would allow you to avoid the heat, electricity and noise dehumidifiers can add to the equation if it works.

Anyone else do anything like this?
 

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I don’t think you need to rely ONLY on a closed loop. I’m suggesting just one with a reeflo, or red dragon or something like that near the far end of the tank. To help get debris to the overflow box. You would still run powerheads on the back wall pushing outwards, but a single pump would assist in pushing inwards.
not relying onlay on power heads or only on closed loop but a combination of them.


corey
 

pdxmonkeyboy

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Quite the opposite - i have put a lot of thought and effort into a closed loop system for many of my setups. The larger the tank, the less efficient and more problematic the closed loop system becomes, however. To achieve the flow I'm looking for i would need ~ 8 x Jaebo you mentioned - this equates to up to 16x bulkhead penetrations, and maintenance on 8 pumps, + minimum of 8 amps to run.

And the flow rates you mention are nominal. Absolute best flow scenario, i am mounting the pumps directly to the back or underneath the tank. This would be a nightmare for maintenance. Then you consider potential leaks, or the fact that i would not consider Jaebo in my equipment lineup. I want reliable equipment that lasts, and the less maintenance i have to do, the more likely it is to get done.

I guess i could see the advantage if i wasn't targeting 30,000 gal/hr of circulation flow... do you think i am overestimating the flow needs?

A couple things... are you over estimating your flow needs? LOL... ABSOLUTELY. You are currently targeting a flow rate of 66x the volume of the tank. (30,000 / 450) I mean... DUDE, that is a MASSIVE amount of flow.. like blow the skin of your acro flows.

1. You will achieve the listed rate of flow on the pumps, maybe 5% loss for plumbing, because there is no hydraulic head on a closed loop system like an open system. A closed loop system 2 feet below the tank will have exactly the same flow as a closed loop system 30 feet below the tank.

2. Jebao.. yeah ok, people love to diss on them but I have 3 of them that have been running 3 years straight, not a hiccup. I have jebaos installed and spares sitting on the shelf at a fraction of the cost of "high end" pumps. Bottom line... everything breaks..everything. Do a search for "vectra problems" and see what comes up. Anyways, just my 2 cents.

3. A closed loop system is infinitely less maintenance compared to powerheads. Why? because there is nothing to get encrusted with algae and coraline. I clean my closed loop pump once a year. And when I say clean I basically open it up.. yeah, looks fine, and put it back together. There is simply no need to access your closed loop system on a regular basis.

4. Any penetration in a tank can leak. A properly installed schedule 80 bulkhead is NOT going to just start randomly leaking.

5. The biggest advantage of the closed loop system is getting flow in the hard to reach areas. Any kind of rock work is going to block a majority of the flow coming off the panes of the aquarium. Unless your going to have power heads on every side of the aquarium.. (#ugly). What would you rather look at.. an MP60 stuck on the glass or a 1" pvc elbow hidden under a rock. CL outlets can keep flow moving along the bottom of all the panes of glass, something a powerhead has a hard time doing (unless you are mounting gyres veritcally). My 300 gallon has one four outlet CL with two outlets moving water across the back and two in the middle of the tank pointing at my two rock "islands". Outside of mounting wave makers on the front glass, I could never get flow there.

6. Two closed loop pumps running 4,000 gph each would get you almost 20x turn over. Throw in a pair of gyres for upper level water movement.. you will have PLENTY of flow.

7. I am well pretty well versed in large tanks and I'm currently building an 8x4x30". I will be running two closed loops and 2 gyre 250's.

But anyways, its just food for thought. I think the conventional wisdom is that the larger the aquarium the more useful a CL system is, not less useful. If you feel otherwise, then you feel otherwise, I have zero skin in this game.
 
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