new school Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 hey frank, i will tell you i never had a closed loop. i been a power head guy for ever. traded some frags for a vortech and will be adding another asap! the flow is amazing. i use a combo of k4's, mp40, 2 sea swirls and two adjustable returns. i keep an extra sea swirl so when it croaks i have a spare.(whistle) i run my two sea swirls thru a true union and my basic returns are fixed ball valve. this way when one of my sea swirls goes out i can turn em off and still valve the same amount of flow thru my basic returns. i use a single dart for this return with double unions. it has the flow i need and is easily reparable. also keep a spare one of these as well. had way too many seals leak over the yrs! still an excellent pump. little heat transfer low wattage and can be valved back with a savings of electricity. just wished they wouldnt leak. i would try a red dragon or flowstar if parts were redily available. should it die i fear i would be outta luck! every single reeflo pump ive used has had seal issues, 3 darts, 1 barracuda, however if you keep a couple seals around you will never be mad! double true unions for easy repair. fwiw, i have seen some sick tanks with one or more closed loops, and some 4-8 way ocean motions. some of those nice acros i scooped were in a tank built 8 yrs go by the shop we met at. it was beautiful work and they used schedule 80 bulks with primer and glue. no flaws what so ever, it leaked because the bulkheads failed over time. (rubber gaskets) i also seen this happen to 2 other very nice aquariums we know of, (sch80!!) just simply leaked over time, same thing. i would probably be replacing my tank before 8 yrs simply due to growth, but melt downs happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new school Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 you can see the union in the back gives me the ability to easily shut em down for service. a single union at lowes is 9.99. also the std true 2" unions were 14.99 ea. i was able to connect my 3/4 in sea swirls in one piece with an elbow, a t, 2 2" slp x 1" slp couplers 2 1"x1"slp x thrd and then threaded straight into the actual elbows on the sea swirls with minimal connect points.its 16 inches wide from end to end. you can work it many ways but this was the thinnest width i could create for myself. everything is sch80 and glued except the threads into the sea swirls. i coulda added another union on each side but figured the spare i had from a previous system would make it easier to swap out. hope this gives you some ideas or pictures that might help buddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 forget the MP's, go with a nice Petco air bubbler and an under-gravel filter. Don't forget the python, so you can connect the TAP directly to the tank. This will provide you with easy water changes and your corals with nice, fresh, sparkling water. closed loops of the past have been slick. go check out upscales...........(whistle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 that's why I am going with the MP40 since it gives 3000gph. Dont know any other pump that will give me that. And...they are moveable. You'll want a secong MP40-IMO/experiance. Looking forward to a build thread-do you plan on doing one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Vortechs Customer service is AWESOME!!! Secondly are the Mp40's or other comparable powerheads really that reliable? I am asking honestly cause I have never ran them either. I have been running 2 MP20 for nearly 14 months without an issue-AFTER I found out my 20's had an issue during production that kept them freezing up. I contacted Vortech, emailed a few pics of the wet side, the rep said I was in luck normally they had the replacement parts I needed but did not at that time so....... He mailed me 2 brand new wet sides, free of charge no questions asked. So now if I can get 2 motors, I can run 4 20's in my 75 gallon-LMOA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 You'll want a secong MP40-IMO/experiance. Looking forward to a build thread-do you plan on doing one? Yea Im going to do a build thread will start very soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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