Anybody used SCWDs with Revolutions (oceanmotions)
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Topic: Anybody used SCWDs with Revolutions (oceanmotions)
Posted By: improdigal
Subject: Anybody used SCWDs with Revolutions (oceanmotions)
Date Posted: September 17 2011 at 10:18pm
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So I had to get a new scwd cause my current one is plugged up and I know from experience after I soak it for a day in vinegar, it'll be good as new... then I'll have 2. Then it occurred to me, what if I get one more, and then I can wave-make from 4 locations similar to an oceans motions, but for much less $, no power usage or heat and then I can eliminate a couple of my corner pumps. | SCWD / \ SCWD SCWD / \ / \ REV REV REV REV By using the Revolutions I would also get to rotate the direction of the flow 4 times over. I was thinking 2 90's in the far corners and 2 180s in the middle Revolutions: http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=40 - http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=40 I might have to up the power on my return pump to push them all better, but I kind of needed to do that anyway, my return flow isn't very fast. Anyone else do this or something similar? ------------- Patrick |
Replies:
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: September 17 2011 at 10:37pm
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Couldn't you accomplish almost the same thing if you just substituted a tee in your current plumbing for that 1st SCWD?
You would end up with (in theory) water coming out of 2 fo the 4 REVs at the same time, but I'm not sure if having a SCWD feeding another SCWD will work...
Intriguing idea, though
------------- - My Current Tank: 50g Starfire Cube Reef * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: kay181
Date Posted: September 18 2011 at 12:56am
if you use that frist scwd then you will only have one side working at once if you put a tee like bob said you will have to sides working at once i love my scwd's i have two on a closed loop feed by a mag 9.5 just put in ballvalves so you can take them off and run them in vinager to clean them every couple weeks i clean mine once every 6 weeks to keep them fast if you dont they slow down a little  ------------- day light scares me im going back under |
Posted By: improdigal
Date Posted: September 18 2011 at 2:16pm
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i Actually want it to do just one side at a time so that it creates a more natural 'wave' motion from one side of the tank to the other. I've been doing some reading on research showing this is much more important to coral growth than previously known (back and forth, not constant flow) ------------- Patrick |
Posted By: improdigal
Date Posted: December 18 2011 at 10:26am
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ok so that sucked... first the guy that makes revolutions just decided to stop making them. I did find an even cheaper solution in the Hydor Rotating deflectors, but had to change my setup slightly. I did end up just putting 2 scwds on a "T" instead of a pyramid of squids and it still seems to have cut my return pumps power by over half so after everything was setup (with much chaos inbetween)... it's very low water flow coming out, so now I'm deciding if I should redo the piping and pull them out or try to find another pump twice as big and hope it doesn't blow the lines out *sigh* I shoulda just left it aloen ------------- Patrick |
Posted By: improdigal
Date Posted: January 29 2012 at 2:01pm
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final result... I put in a 2400 gph pump and it works like a charm now. Just had to over do the pump power ALOT (double expected) to make up for the slowing caused by the scwds, but with that much power, I'm happy to report that the scwds NEVER get stuck, nor do the hydor rotating deflectors that were getting stuck daily on lower flow. My fish and coral now love me again, I have successfully reduced my tank from 6 pumps to 1 big one, but probably didn't save any power, just probably heat. :-) Other important findings that I learned from this project that I want to save others from repeating: - Float valves in line with a scwd don't work. The back pressure keeps it from closing all the way. Also when it stays in one place long enough, the algae build up around the moving parts eventually stick in one place. - Check Valves - Also tend to get stuck open with various crap in the water and then when the power goes out... they can't close all way to stop the reverse cyphon. Solution: Just stick to keeping the heads close enough to the surface that they break cyphon before draining too far. - Stop/Drain valves for breaking cyphon - Doesn't work. Especially with a wave maker. Each time it 'waved' to the other side, it would let air in the line and result in bubbles coming out of the heads. It does NOT however let enough air in to break a cyphon. ALSO, they never stopped all water flow completely, they constantly dripped. PVC stuff: - ball Valves are your friend. put one on every separate line for troubleshooting and changing out one section at a time. worth every penny to be able to turn lines on an off to fix leaks, replace pumps...etc - Use 3/4 or 1" lines. I used mostly 1/2" and it caused too much pressure probs. ------------- Patrick |
Posted By: aquablue
Date Posted: January 30 2012 at 7:50am
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Nice to see these being used more now, seemed like (to me anyway) not many people used SCWD's back when I had my first reef tank. My setup was similar in the way of only using a single pump for all current, my return pump and 4 outlets on a single SCWD worked beautifully, Also my only real maintenance was the occasional vinegar dip like you mentioned. I'm going to have to get real creative to come up with something as functionally elegant for my pico startup. ------------- 12G Nano Cube | DIY LED Member of GCFB |