questions about heat and noise

[pitogo]

Hi all,

The new Oceanic Tech 70G is now filled with water and plumbed to the sump. My questions are about heat and noise. I am using a 20G long below the main tank as a sump/refugium. The return is a mag7. One I think it runs too hot and its somewhat loud. More of the noise is from the waterfall and gurgling sound of the overflow box and durso stand pipe. I read someone here had the same Tech 70 and did something to fix or quiet it but now I can't find it in the search.

The bigger issue I have is the heat in the tank. I have a nice cool 70's ambient air temp but the tank is hovering at around 80.5 with no lights on. I have a mag7, two korelia 4 and two mj900 with the EcoSystem MOD Kit. My skimmer is actively working in the LR curing vat its a Euroreef RS80 with the sedra 3500. Ok so now I'm in a bit of a heat wave with too many pumps producing heat and no skimmer in the system yet. Will removing the mag7 and replacing it with an Eheim 1262 or go external with a Panworld PX40 fix the heat issue? Or will the chiller be the better option instead of going with a new pump. The mag 7 is fairly new and clean but it doesn't seem to move much water as much as it acts as a heat pump.

When I turn the lights no eeek, its an open air top with an Aqualight Pro drowningly loud cooling fan and it still puts in heat. This is a no win situation.

 

[DaveK]

On the temperature issue. You have quite a few pumps in the tank. Remember each one of them acts like a small heater. Add up all the watts consumed by all of them, and you can see you are adding a lot of heat into the system.

To start with I'd remove the Korella's and/or the MJ900's and see how much of a temp drop you get.

You may also get less heat from the return pump by switching to a different brand of pump, or switching to an externally mounted pump.

You may need to do things like add a fan over the sump to increase evaporation, and thus cooling. Worst case, you may need a chiller.

 

[pitogo]

Crap, its the mag7 at 70 watts. The MJ mod900 are 8.5 each and the koralia 4 are also 8.5 each, all four put me up at 34 watts. Looks like I'll have to go with the external, possibly the iwaki 20RLTX or the panworld 40PX to keep that heat out.

 

[Hawkeye]

On the return pump- is there a need to push that much water thru the sump? There are quite a few successful tanks with very slow flow thru the sump - but maximizing the skimmer efficiency in the sump.

 

[pitogo]

Hi Phil,

I am going barebottom and would like as much flow as possible, into the sump/refugium according to what I've read. I'll have a DSB and macroalgae for nutrient export. The pump will have 4' of head so the flow wouldn't be at the rated GPH. I could also Tee the return into a phosphate reactor or chiller if need to reduce flow.

No/yes?

 

[Hawkeye]

sorry was out for a few days and didn't get a chance to respond.

At 4' of head, a mag 7 will push 480 gph.

The Sedra3500 (no head) pushs 350gph in your skimmer.

Going by that - you are in essence pumping water back up into the display before the skimmer even has a chance to work on it. You want maximum flow in the display - but I don't need the benefit of maximizing flow thru the sump unless you have a skimmer properly sized for the extra flow.

Let's say you sacrifice down to a mag 5. You save about 25 watts in heat but only lose about 100 gph at 4' head. Try it and then check the temp. If you want the extra 100gph, then just add a powerhead - they are much more efficient heat wise. Alternatively as mentioned by dave - you could swap for an external pump.

Again - strictly my opinion...I think those with BB tanks can comment more and obviously those who think maximizing flow thru the sump should chime in here. There are a lot of ways to get this done - so don't just go by my one opinion.