[Lucky]

In short my tank is geting too hot. I have done all the little tricks minus the use of a chiller.
I have a 310 gallon reef.
I'm ready to update my circulation. I'm useing mag drive pumps to feed the tank from the sump. ( they are not in the water).
I also have 3 of them runing spry bars behind my aquascape @ 1400 gph. My water flow is awsome. but the price of my temp. is not.

I have considerd installing a wave maker and a multi-controler made by tunzi (? spelling?)
and getting rid of all these mag's. but I am worried that this would not give me any circulation behind my aquascape. (it is right against the back wall in the tank.)

Any thoughts on this idea?

I also thought about drilling my over flow for the intake water supply on my spray bars, this would allow me to get the mags out of the water. It would be a closed circuit, but with the supply intake holes in my over flow I would be able to keep the pre-filters out of sight.
And I would not have to prime them if the system ever lost power.( note: if I did this the water would not go to the sump but back to the spray bars)

Do you know of any pumps that pump this volume without the heat?

I know I need to update, but I am not sure how to go? and with the cost of completly re-doing my cicrculation system. I want to make sure I don't end up in the same spot I am now.

What do you use? where can I get it? are you happy with it?... You know just the basic info.

thanks for your advice
Lucky

[stephaniesquires]

I was running into a similar problem in my 240. I ended up taking out the spray bar. I took all pumps out of the water and got 2 EcoTech VorTech powerheads. No heat in the tank and great flow. I then extended and redirected my return flow to go behind my LR and direct flow across the back of the tank, similar to the flow I had with the spraybar. I get enough flow from the returns to keep the back of the tank clear of sand. I can also see water movement coming through the rock into the center of the tank.
I had to add a heater, I will probably end up getting a chiller in the spring so I can keep temps consistent in the summer, but for now it's working great.

[Lucky]

thanks, let me ask you this.
Have you done any research on chillers?
If so have you found any that are quiet?

My tank is in the livingroom and not closed in so I have to keep the noise level down.
this is one factor that has kept me from useing a chiller

[stephaniesquires]

Originally Posted by Lucky

thanks, let me ask you this.
Have you done any research on chillers?
If so have you found any that are quiet?

My tank is in the livingroom and not closed in so I have to keep the noise level down.
this is one factor that has kept me from useing a chiller

Some research, not enough to be confident in a choice, but what I've learned is that they are noisy AND produce a lot of heat (go figure!). I am fortunate that my tank is on a wall and the garage is on the other side. I will plump my chiller through the wall so the unit is in the garage. The cost for a tank our size is about $1500. You and I would need 1/2hp chillers. Could possibly get away with a 1/3 hp which is much cheaper, but I'm not sure I would try it.
They can be plumbed through a wall fairly easily so that is a plus....

Removing the powerheads from the tank made a huge difference. (And much cheaper!!)

[Lucky]

yes The research I have done has tought me that your better off to over size your chiller.
This will cause it to operate less, and not run as hard when it is on...
I hope this works for you. people I have spoken to about them are happy with them...
just not the noise, if you go to Pet Solutions you can get awsome prices on them and other stuff

Thanks for you thoughts
Lucky

[NAS]

Hey Lucky,

On one of my tanks I have a 400W 20,000k MH. With submersed pumps all producing a ton of heat. Over the past two years I have tried all sorts of different means to cool the tank. I was seeing a flux of 5 F Day to night. This caused huge stress on the fish, corals, and inverts. I finaly caved and put a chiller on. Punched a hole throught the wall to closet (oposite the tank) and put the chiller in the closet. Now, it stays a 80 F 24-7.
Bottom line, go for the chiller. You will Save money, and stress in the long run. If you are getting heat issues now, you get them latter too!

Good luck.

[Jeremy0322]

If you were to put the pumps outside of the sump would it be a good idea to set them in something like a rubber maid container in case they went nuts, or are they usually pretty good about not dying.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

When you pump water thru a pipe the water moving along the inside of the pipe causes friction and heat,add to that the heat caused by the pump itself and you can actually feel the temp difference by touching the pipe where it goes into the tank.The mag drive pumps themselves put out 10 to 12 watts each for the small ones,thats a lot of heat in a closed enviornment.Add to that the heat from a metal halide lighting system and you have a recipe for a volcano not a reef tank.I would do the following.first I would get a set of t-5 vho's that would get up around 5 watts to the gallon.second I would sell the metal halides to someone in the local reef club(there has to be someone you dont like lol).next sell the mag drives in the same manor and replace the 12 watt model with hydor koralia pumps at 3 watts.With 700 to 800$'s you wont have to spend on the chiller you will be money ahead.And with the reduced electric bill,take your wife out to dinner.