New 1 1/2" 4 way Ocean Motions installed today!!!

[MikeyBoy]

Special thanks to Pete for coming over and helping with this major undertaking!!!


I am running a Sequence Hammerhead with the 4way.
The tank is a RR Oceanic Brick 215 gallon.


So far, its working awesome.
I do have lot of micro bubbles right now, going to check all the ball valve nuts and re teflon them to try and stop.......

The 6 1 1/2 upright post are split, so I have 12 3/4 locline returns for this closed loop.

Circulation pump is going to be my Panworld 100pxx
I turned my Tunze 6100 off because I had so much flow when I cranked the system up.......probably going to be selling it soon!!


You should see the waterflow.................its unbelievable!!!

[::pete::]

In my opinion nothing beats the OM unit!! Random, alternating, not in the tank ect ect ...

Beleive me there is some serious flow it Mikes tank NOW!!!

[NaCl_H2O]

Awesome - you are gonna love that setup

This is the one change your system needed, your SPS will love you for it!

[MikeyBoy]

I am hoping the Hamnmerhead isnt too much pump.
I may have to end up swapping down for a dart or something!
There is a TON of micro bubbles in there at the moment................a las...............something to work on tommorrow.....

[NaCl_H2O]

I am hoping the Hamnmerhead isnt too much pump.
I may have to end up swapping down for a dart or something!
There is a TON of micro bubbles in there at the moment................a las...............something to work on tommorrow.....

Play with the ball valves on the inlet/outlet of the pump. If restricting inlet/outlet volume changes the amount of bubbles, your pump may be cavetating. If not, it is probably an air leak in the pipe.

[::pete::]

Im thinking air is getting sucked in because when we cut the pump back they just about disappeared ... like a vacumn.

Please explain cavetating.

[NaCl_H2O]

Please explain cavetating.

Pressure gradient around impellers is making air out of water (similar to boiling)

See This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavitation) and This (http://www.pumpworld.com/troubleS2.htm)

[NaCl_H2O]

:o Somebody has a really fast camera :o

[::pete::]

Thanks ... Mike and I were taking about it the other day and I just couldnt remember how to explain it to him. Is this a possibility with the hammerhead?

[NaCl_H2O]

Is this a possibility with the hammerhead?
Actually, since you said

... when we cut the pump back they just about disappeared
I'm thinking it may be cavitation - I am assuming you cut it back by partially closing the ball valve on the outlet side of the pump, which would change the "Discharge Pressure". Cut back the inlet ball valve and I bet the bubbles increase!

Is the setup for the inlet up over the top of the tank (not drilled)?

Mike - if you have a rheostat or a dimmable X10 module you might try cutting the pump speed back to 75% or so. Some pumps work OK on a rheostat, some don't - you might want to check with the MFG first?

[::pete::]

Correct we cut the out back never tried the in and yes its up and over.

[MikeyBoy]

It was still doing it this morning................bummer............
Does this mean that I am probably going to have to replace the hammerhead with something smaller?
I will check with sequence to see if it can be slowed down effectively.

I am also going to re-teflon the unions today and see if that helps.

[NaCl_H2O]

Pete said the inlet was coming from the top of the tank (up & over). That could be causing a lot of suction (-pressure) at the pump inlet and causing cavitation ... I dunno, kinda making this up but it seems logical?

Anyway you could drop the pump inlet into the sump just to see if that makes a difference?

[lhoy]

Try doing some checking here where Anthony Caflo discuss cavitation in numerous threads. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=520145

I was reading through these threads last night and that issue came up frequently (ironically enough, he has it occuring on his tank and discusses why).

Hope you find some answers there.

Lee

P.S. forgot to mention that he said when the intake is up and over (I believe that is what you said you had, that this happens frequently, particularly with larger pumps because they can't suck enough water up and over). His recommendation is to use a bulkhead for the CL pump and to keep the pump as close to the bulkhead as possible and preferably to use a straight shot with plumbing and avoid 45's or 90's.

[brewercm]

Basically cavitation is a pump that is not getting the proper amount of fluid in this case to the inlet to support the pumps output. If your pump (like the hammerhead) has a large volume outlet, I'd go no less than a 2 inch inlet on the closed loop to make sure this doesn't happen.

[::pete::]

There is the wording "I" was looking for :D plain and simple! :P

To the pump is a "J" upside down and its all down as you can see in the picture. We put in a 45 to keep it going down. So if this is not enough water to the pump (big pump) then a smaller pump might do the trick. Mike cant drill at this point, but might beable to steal one of his overflow holes.