View Single Post
  #123  
Old 07/26/2007, 11:25 AM
token token is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Texas
Posts: 262
One of my favorite builds is by Sparkss. His tank is very similar to yours in size. He utilized a closed loop. His method is to move the water from one side of the tank to the other for six hours, then a period of mixed flow and then from the other side to the first side for six hours, finishing with a period of "calm" when neither side is operating, resulting in a tidal approximation that his corals relish, judged by growth. His lighting aids in that plan, with dawn to dusk effects and moonlighting on a natural cycle controlled by an ACIII, iirc. Randomness is controlled by a very nice DIY sinusoidal valve on a closed loop.

A couple of other tanks that mix SPS with LPS are Naka's and invicible589's (iirc). Both use closed loops to great effect.

I don't know if you have already acquired the Tunze's, or if you are absolutely set on them. As I plan my build, I have opted to minimize the in-tank presence of any power sources, due to the need to ground wherever they are present. This just seems to detract from the presentation that a large tank achieves.

I guess my point is that CL's can accomplish a lot very efficiently, electrically and in terms of maintenance. It's truly up to the reefkeeper to decide, from the get go, what is desirable and follow that path.

Just food for thought...

On another note, I see the calculation differences now; in your calc's, the sump and fuges are predicted to be full, I think. I took the volume numbers to indicate size, and then guesstimated the actual volume they would hold. For instance, I have a 100g sump but I plan to only fill it 40-50% to accomodate a power outage drain. Since mine is a two-story install, the pipes actually hold a good bit of water that needs to go somewhere....
__________________
•Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
•Imagination is more important than knowledge.
--Albert Einstein