Closed loop or Power heads ?

[Sea-nut]

I am going to upgrade my tank soon, not sure if I want to go with closed loop or power heads again. I like the look of the tanks with closed loop but I need to know more about it before I do it.
Thanks.

[lordofthereef]

Each has its upside and drawbacks.

Closed loops tend to draw more power, though this can be negligible based on how you plumb it (for example penductors can give you much more flow than the pump is necessarily rated for).

Closed loops are also better looking (in my opinion anyway) in that you don't have an unsightly chord. Vortechs can somewhat get around this although, IMO, they still look bad unless you put the external motor on a wall that you don't use for viewing.

Powerheads also tend to be a little more adjustable as to where you want them in the tank, but thanks to locline tubing even that can be worked around to an extent with your closed loop.

Another thing with powerheads is their propensity to suck in slow moving critters like snails or anemones. While a closed loop doesn't eliminate this, it is much easier IMO to set up the intake such that is it much more difficult for this to happen. This can be done with a powerhead as well using mesh, but again, I think this looks bad.

Lastly, closed loops are a bit more of a PITA to clean, however if plumbed right your job is made much easier.

[sjames]

what do you want to know?

closed loops are great, but require alot of planning and work, initial startup costs are probably similar to, or less than controllable stream pumps, or vortecs. Energy costs are likely higher with a closed loop.

[Bonsai Boi]

what size tank are you thinking?

[Sea-nut]

120

[moogoomoogoo]

Lastly, closed loops are a bit more of a PITA to clean, however if plumbed right your job is made much easier

Explain to me what you mean please. How should they be plumbed?

[SeaWeed89]

i would asume to be able to disassemble the piping and pump with unions at the ends or near

[okkiedokki]

When I planned my 90 I put a closed loop in to have the water get pumped back into the tank just above the sand to keep detritus suspended. So far my plan has worked, however I like powerheads better because more plumbing leaves room for more leaks down the road.

[Playa-1]

I would just go with powerheads myself. They are less expensive to operate in most cases and can be moved easily. Much more flexability with powerheads in my opinion. Many times there will be nozzles and screens and other clutter associated with closed loops anyway. Granted I've seen some clean looking systems with closed loops but I get the feeling they could be in trouble if they ever wanted to reaquascape the tank. Like has be previously stated, there are pros and cons and you will have to weight them out for yourself and decide what works best for you.

[NKYdude]

i love my closed loop for keeping my barebottom clean and manageable. i have 3 colums of LR in my tank. behind the middle is the drain, and behind the left and right are the returns. the right return is a 90 degree aimed down that keeps the right and middle of the tank detritus free. the left side has a 360 degree outlet that just circulates water and allows detritus to build up on the front left of the tank. this makes it really easy for me to vacuum any nasty stuff out during water changes.

i use powerheads too though above my live rock to agitate the surface and keep water moving around the sps.

[Victor Barreira]

I do prefer streaming pumps, like Koralias...

[CoralHolic]

I have reached this cross road as well... though mine will be around 550g. CL sounds good at first but the fact of future scaping puts a damper on that. I personally wouldn't mind to many power cords, but still keep to a min.

Now as for powerheads style I am at a loss. Though I have thought about putting a wave box to have on from time to time.

[davocean]

I had a CL before, for the same reason as most, to hide it.
I have to say the first neg was my tank seemed to run warm, even though the pump wasn't suposed to add heat.
That was tolerable, but when my CL pump went bad, there went the heart of my system, and to make matters worse they had a manufacturing problem and I received several bad pumps in a row.
There's more to this that made my situation even worse, but to keep this short, I have to say it's pretty nice that if a PH goes bad, you just have reduced flow til you get it handled, and it's an easy R&R.
Also maint is much easier.

[goochesfish]

I like my closed loop. The external pump does not add heat (I use a dart 3000gph) and have union ball valves before and after the pump for future maintenance. I also have an oceans motions connected to it.