2 Vortecs on a 90 gallon (48"W) tank?

[MeuserReef]

Im soon to be upgrading my 30 gallon to a 90 and would like to "do it right the first time" with regards to flow. Im thinking about 2 vortecs, one on either side with some sort of alternating back and forth.

Is this too extreme (unrealistic) for a 90 gallon tank? SPS dominated of course

[Treg]

Bare Bottom?

I had 2 Tunze 6100's plus a Wavebox in a 90g.
Plus about 700gph return from an OM 2 way.




Unrealistic, No.



Needed, Not really.

Alternating back and forth it would be nice flow.

[MeuserReef]

Thanks Treg. The 90 will definetly be barebottom.

The main reason that Im even contimplating spending the insane $$$ on the Vortechs is so that I wont have to have any other powerheads in the tank.... EVER (I will also have the return from the sump that I would likely "T" off and use Loc-Line to point both down the back glass so that it blows any deutritus off of the bottom of the tank). The 90 is the absolute largest tank that my current living room can handle (and my wallet come power bill time) so Im trying to get the ideal equipment the first go 'round. I realistically dont see another UPgrade for at least the next 5-10 years.

I like the MOD that Giovanni did to the Vortec controller to ramp the flow up and down using a relay and a 12V transformer. I was thinking that I could use my existing Maxi-jet wavemaker (2 or 4 channels) in conjunction with the Vortec MOD to alternate the flow. The wavemaker has a dial that allows the rotation speed through the channels so the possibilies are pretty good (in theory) with this kind of setup.



Maybe Santa will bring me an ACIII this year! (highly unlikely)

ps.... just felt like posting in green for some reason.

[sherm71tank]

I saw a 90 BB thread today with 3 Vortechs in it.

Edit: Here it is: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1155619

[MeuserReef]

Thanks for the link sherm...

King-Kong is a MADMAN with one heck of a pump budget!

How do you accomplish your flow in your 90 BB sherm?

What skimmer are you running?

[sherm71tank]

Your most welcome! Right now I have 3 X Koralia 4's a Maxi-Mod 1200 and a Seio 1100. I greatly dislike all those pumps in there but it's a must to keep detritus suspended.

I'm a Beckett fan and have been running a DIY Beckett until recently and right now I'm trying a DAS EX2 out.

[sherm71tank]

You may find this thread of interest.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/poll.p...ts&pollid=5842

[todd rose]

I am running two vortechs in a 70 gallon and I am very pleased with the amount of flow and the clean look. I have had a few driver issues that were a pain but I must say that Ecotech always took care of the problem.

Todd

[raynist]

I have 4 on my 120 (sps) and one on my 180. I will soon be adding another on my 180. I sold all of my tunze equipment for these and i love them!!! Far less obtrusive in the tank and a more usefull flow in my opinion.

[brianbigoats]

i have two in my 90 plus a Tunze nano 6045

[HBtank]

I have two on my 80. Love em. I even have sand...

[MeuserReef]

raynist
brianbigoats
todd rose

Are you all running BB? Im curious if the 2 Vortecs on opposing sides, along with the returns pointing down the back glass will be sufficient to keep the deutritus suspended so that it can make its way into the sump.

[JetCat USA]

I've got 2 Tunze 6100s and 1200gph return on my 75g (same footprint as a 90 but shorter), it's got an inch or so of sand in the bottom and it's no problems at all. with both Streams on 100% they cause a little duneing of the sand here and there but never anything major. it used to dune up till it exposed the bottom glass (mostly becasue of the return) in a few places so i mixed a bit of CC in with the sand in those spots and problem solved.

[GSMguy]

i have one vortech in my 50g and im going to be adding #2 soon

i would not wast all that time with giovannis controller and a wavemaker you will just killl the pump. plus your going to spend what 700 dollars so you can have the flow that 100 dollars worth of koralia on a wavemaker could produce....plus modding the driver voids the vortechs warranty.

you know what send me 700bucks i will waste it for you that way you can get back to work making money to throw away.

JK i just dont think paying for 6000gph and only using 1500 of it makes sense..

[MeuserReef]

i have one vortech in my 50g and im going to be adding #2 soon

i would not wast all that time with giovannis controller and a wavemaker you will just killl the pump. plus your going to spend what 700 dollars so you can have the flow that 100 dollars worth of koralia on a wavemaker could produce....plus modding the driver voids the vortechs warranty.

you know what send me 700bucks i will waste it for you that way you can get back to work making money to throw away.

He he he .... I do a good enough job wasting my money myself, but thank you for the kind offer

How would you suggest achieving a random flow without sacrificing some of the 6000gph thru-put? Im not going to be able to buy another multi-hundred dollar Ecotech controller so I was just trying to use the equipment that I already had invested in.

JK i just dont think paying for 6000gph and only using 1500 of it makes sense..

If one Vortec (3000gph) is on at any one point in time, how would I get 1500gph? Would I be better (with respect to growing SPS) if I just let them flow at full-blast? I would like to have a lower-flow "night mode" that would allow a break from the waves (much like the ocean at night gets a bit calmer). I would like to give the fish a bit of a break to casually swim around the tank.
Im thinking a simple timer would allow this.... but would the lower flow during the night time hours actually hurt the SPS (do they need atomic flow 24/7?)

I might add that these pumps will be the single most expensive investment that I have made in my 2+ years keeping reef tanks.

[raynist]

Originally posted by MeuserReef
raynist
brianbigoats
todd rose

Are you all running BB? Im curious if the 2 Vortecs on opposing sides, along with the returns pointing down the back glass will be sufficient to keep the deutritus suspended so that it can make its way into the sump.

My 120 with the 4 Vortechs is BB.

My 180 with just one (soon to be 2) has a about 3 inches of sand.

[raynist]

Originally posted by MeuserReef
[color=blue] Im not going to be able to buy another multi-hundred dollar Ecotech controller so I was just trying to use the equipment that I already had invested in.

The contoller will only be $75 per pump, so if you use two you are only spending $150.

[MeuserReef]

I dont have the Vortechs yet so if I wait (probably until spring of 08) wont I just get a "w" version of the pump for $425 ea.?

At least thats how I understood EcoTech's post in their forum.

[raynist]

Originally posted by MeuserReef
I dont have the Vortechs yet so if I wait (probably until spring of 08) wont I just get a "w" version of the pump for $425 ea.?

At least thats how I understood EcoTech's post in their forum.

You are correct.

[todd rose]

Originally posted by MeuserReef
raynist
brianbigoats
todd rose

Are you all running BB? Im curious if the 2 Vortecs on opposing sides, along with the returns pointing down the back glass will be sufficient to keep the deutritus suspended so that it can make its way into the sump.

I have a 2 inch sand bed with no problems.

[MeuserReef]

Originally posted by todd rose
I have a 2 inch sand bed with no problems.

Amazing that with so much flow, sand still exists in your tank! I think the one thing that I like the most about the Vortech (or at least why Im even considering shelling out the $$$) is that they have such a "natural" flow, not just a jet like the adequately-named-Maxi-Jets that Im using now. (Irealize that other pumps also have similar flow patterns and that the Maxi-Mods achieve a broad flow too... but not mith such a low visiblity profile)