Reef Ramblings

Following on from part 1 of this article, I’ll continue to look at pumps and water movement by examining energy efficient ways of achieving increased flow and of generating surge or wave movement.

Eductors.

Fancy increasing your water flow for no additional energy cost? Well then, try using an Eductor.
This is a special form of nozzle that can increase the flow rate of a given pump by a factor of 4 through the use of a venturi effect. At the same time the Eductor also modifies the pattern of water flow, spreading the flow making it more suited to reef organisms, much in the way that a Koralia pump does.

For best results with an Eductor it should be used with a high-pressure pump, in aquarium terms the higher the Q max of the pump the better. I wouldn’t recommend use on anything less than a 1200 litre per hour pump. It can be used directly attached to a pump in the aquarium or as a nozzle used in conjunction with a plumbed in system.

Note: many Koralia style pumps impart a rotational component to the water flow as a result of the flow being generated by a screw type impellor of the type used to propel model boats. This form of flow is not commonly found in the wild. The design of the Koralia impellor minimises this effect, while an Eductor imparts no rotation to the flow at all.

Mechanically Generated Surge.

A very cost effective way of improving your water movement is to employ some form of mechanically generated surge such as a SCWD or Hydor Flo.

The SCWD is a water switching or current generating device, best described as being a tee piece on steroids, water is fed into the bottom of the tee by a pump and is then directed alternately out of the two outlet ports giving a surge effect. The higher the volume of water flowing through the SCWD, the faster the switching response.

The Hydor Flo is best described as a rotating water deflector. It fits directly on the outlet nozzle of a powerhead style pump, such as a Hydor Pico evolution. The water flow from the pump makes the Flo rotate and, as the outlet of the Flo is off centre, this constantly changes the direction of the water flow, creating a surge effect.

This is a useful inexpensive device for adding an element of surge in even the smallest reef aquaria.

The beauty of both these devices is that no additional electricity is required to generate beneficial water movement and they have none of the disadvantages associated with mains voltage pumps being turned on and off to create surge.

Closed- Loop Systems.

It’s not just the electricity consumption in generating water movement that is a concern, there’s also the heat transferred to the water by the pumps employed. Getting rid of excess heat in the reef aquarium can be an expensive process, both in terms of purchasing equipment such as chillers and air conditioners and in the electricity costs of running them. If you take the pumps out of the water less heat gets passed on to the aquarium water so there’s less requirement for cooling the system.

So instead of having lots of pumps cluttering up your reef (and your power outlets) why no try using a larger more powerful pump, such as a Hydor Seltz, outside the aquarium, which is dedicated to water movement. This pump just sucks water out and then returns it to the reef to generate water movement, a closed–loop system. It’s quite possible that by choosing the right pump you might actually be consuming less electricity than if you were to use multiple pumps in the aquarium.

Your closed-loop can be made even more effective by running it in conjunction with a SCWD plus eductors as you’ll increase water flow and gain surge at the same time. All with less visible equipment in your reef.

Low Voltage versus Mains Voltage Surge Systems.

The majority of wave makers or surge systems employing mains voltage have the disadvantage of long term damage to pumps and impellors resulting in shorter pump life.
By using a low voltage surge system, such as the Hydor Koralia Wavemaker 2, long pump life is assured along with the advantage of a modern pump with low energy consumption. Additional advantages are the many different settings possible with electronic control: alternate flow, synchronous flow, surge periods of anywhere between 2 seconds and 6 hours, low flow night mode (automatic with the use of a photocell or manual), and low flow when feeding at the touch of a button.

Pump Modifications.

You can get more flow, delivered in a far better manner, by modifying an existing Maxi-Jet pump with a Sure Flow 1600 Maxi-Jet Upgrade Kit. This modifies any Maxi-Jet 400, 600, 900, or 1200 into a Koralia style pump delivering a massive 6000 litres an hour!

The Sure Flow 1600 Kit is made up of a Shroud with a built in anti-vortex shield (see note above, under eductors), a full rotation bracket (designed for use with a Sure Grip magnetic powerhead holder), a medium flow propeller with impeller magnet plus Stainless Steel shaft and end caps, and an adapter bracket to attach the original Maxi-Jet brackets to the full rotation bracket.

It works very well with Sure Grip magnet holders, indeed you can mount two modified Maxi-Jets off of one Sure Grip magnetic powerhead holder.

So. if you’ve got some of the ubiquitous Maxi-Jets lying around in your bits box this is a very cost effective way of getting Koralia performance on the cheap.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to get in touch with me: tim@midlandreefs.co.uk

Tim Hayes
Midland Reefs
©2008

In this second article, aimed at aquarists concerned about the costs of running their reef tanks, I’m looking at pumps and water movement.

Your concerns may be purely about the financial cost of running your reef or you may have wider environmental concerns regarding the carbon footprint of your reef, either way, this article looks at how you can make economies that will effect both areas of concern.

Pumps.

If you’re looking at having to buy new pumps, protein skimmers, or the like don’t buy cheap, no-name Chinese manufactured items, indeed this could also apply to some items from known names which are simply the same items re-branded. Why not? Two factors often render these products poor value for money, poor build quality / quality control and energy efficiency. (There’s also a third factor, that of product safety, but that’s not strictly relevant to this article)
To me, a cheap item that fails in under a year and then needs replacing does not represent good value for money. I’d much prefer to purchase a product that will work reliably and consistently for years rather than be continually buying cheaper products that need frequent replacement. Then there’re also phenomena such as rusty impellor shafts on supposedly marine safe pumps as a result of using inferior materials …

Don’t forget, that where the reef aquarium is concerned, reliability is a major factor in equipment choice given the potential costs in dead or injured livestock in the event of a failure.

Energy Efficiency.

Many of the cheaper pumps prove to be inefficient when it comes to energy consumption. You can check the energy consumption of a pump by looking at the label that’s usually attached to the pump body. This will detail the voltage and frequency, the wattage, and the capacity of the pump in litres per hour (l/h). It should also feature the letters “CE”. The CE marking indicates that the product has been tested for safety under the “EU Low Voltage Directive” (this is for equipment using between 50 and 1,000V AC or 75-1,500V DC) and for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) by a Notified Body laboratory. It’s worth noting that there may be products on the market that appear to be CE marked but have been tested in a non-recognised Chinese lab.
For Europe the voltage and frequency should read 230V – 50Hz. The wattage (W) will read, for example, 9W and the flow capacity  1050 l/h. Broadly speaking, to compare the efficiency of two different pumps look at both the wattage and the flow rate; the lower the wattage for a given flow rate the more efficient the pump. Good examples of energy efficient pumps are those manufactured by Hydor.

 Sump Pumps.

When it comes to pumps that are lifting against gravity, like a sump return pump, there’s the additional factor of the static head of the pump, often shown as Q max, which is the maximum height it can pump water. The capacity of the pump can be read from its Q-H curve (flow vs. height). This information should be available from reputable manufacturers. It’s important to understand that even though a pump may be labeled as, say 3000 litres /hour, this flow rate will gradually reduce to zero the higher it’s required to pump. I’ll cover this at greater length in a future article.

Hints ‘n’ tips.

It’s worth noting that quoted wattage isn’t always given accurately. Buy an energy meter and check the consumption of your existing pumps. Discard any pumps using excessive amounts of energy and replace with modern, low energy pumps such as Hydor Koralia and Hydor Pico Evolution (Picos are an inexpensive, high quality, replacement for Juwel aquarium pumps).

Maintenance.

Regularly stripping and cleaning all the pumps used in your aquarium will help in a number of ways.
It’ll prolong the serviceable life of your pumps.
It will maintain the efficiency of the pump along with optimal water flow within your reef.

Hints ‘n’ tips.

If you’re running Koralia pumps don’t let calcareous algae or corals grow over the pump body, as this will reduce flow. Placing your hand over the front aperture of the pump while it’s running will allow any loose debris effecting the flow to drop free of the pump body (just be careful not to insert any part of you anatomy inside a working pump!). Any attached algae or corals will need to be mechanically removed; this can usually be carried out with a plastic bladed scraper. Pumps that are heavily encrusted with calcareous algae may benefit form being left to soak in a mild acid, such as white vinegar, which will dissolve away the build up of the calcium carbonate based algae.

Next time, in part 2 of this article, I’ll continue to look at pumps and water movement by examining energy efficient ways of achieving increased flow and of generating surge or wave movement.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to get in touch with me: tim@midlandreefs.co.uk

Tim Hayes
Midland Reefs
©2008

Welcome to a new series of articles aimed at those aquarists concerned about the costs of running their reef tanks. Your concerns may be purely about the financial cost of running your reef or you may have wider concerns regarding the carbon footprint of your reef, either way, in this series of articles I’ll be looking at how you can make economies that will effect both areas of concern.

All of a sudden times seem hard, food prices are up and energy prices, both electricity and petrol, have risen substantially in a short period of time. You’re feeling the pinch and may be worrying whether you can continue to afford to run your reef.
The question is what should you do? If you pack your reef in you’ll make a large monetary loss, as you’ll never realise the full amount of money you’ve spent on it over the years. But you can make your existing reef more energy efficient and cheaper to run by reviewing the equipment you’re running.
You can also save money by reviewing the kind of reef you keep and by looking at the way you feed and maintain your reef.

Although I’m going to cover lighting in a future article in this series, I am going to briefly touch on the subject in this first introductory article.

Do You Really Need All That Light?

The cost of lighting a captive reef is often the greatest expense reefkeepers have to contend with. There are two expenses involved here, the cost of replacement lamps, the cost of the electricity consumed by the light. On top of this there may also be the less obvious cost of managing the heat build up, resulting from the level of lighting used. This heat build up often necessitates the use of chillers, or other means of cooling, to maintain a safe temperature within the aquarium.
Guess what?
That additional cooling can be as much as your lighting bill if not more!

So What to do?

There’s been a trend over the last few years to use more and more light over reef aquaria, the question is whether it’s really necessary. If faced with the choice of having to give up your reef as it’s becoming too expensive to run, why not consider scaling back the amount of lighting used?
Just remember, there’s no “best” level of lighting, just the level of lighting appropriate to the species being kept.     If you’ve been keeping SPS, maybe consider selling them or trading them, and then change the theme of your reef, making it into a soft coral or LPS reef. LPS corals and soft corals are often found in lagoonal conditions where the water may be turbid, hence they can be maintained happily under lower levels of lighting than required by SPS corals such as Acropora.
There are many different types of reef and these can be split into many different zones. If you need to reduce the amount of money you’re spending lighting your reef tank I’d suggest doing a bit of research into these different forms of reefs and the different zones that they can be split into. I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to find something that will suit you and save you money by reducing your electricity bill.

For coral information I’d suggest: Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman.

For more book recommendations see my review of reef aquarium literature.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to get in touch with me: tim@midlandreefs.co.uk

Tim Hayes
Midland Reefs
©2008