37 Special - Flow Suggestions

JT · 03-04-2006, 02:15 PM

Back before true cube tanks became all the rage, Oceanic had an awesome lil pseudo cube tank they named the 37 Special. It measures 24x18x21" - almost the same as a 58G and was available reef-ready or not. It's been discontinued for awhile but I still have one that's been sitting for a couple months. It was originally a seahorse tank and then a freshwater planted tank.

Now I am thinking of resurrecting it into a BB tank for a staghorn frag to grow out nice and large surrounded by some millepora and green and pink stylophora.

Whatcha all think for flow? Looking at the front, the overflow box is in the rear left corner. I am limited to a 10G sump in the stand so I am thinking of a Mag 5 for return to a traditional loc-line round nozzle up through the RR overflow. I was then thinking of a closed loop plumbed to a 2-way Squirt with a penductor in the right rear corner pointing towards the center of the front pane for one of the outputs and a 1" round nozzle on the left side of the tank, probably mid-way down in the tank, blowing towards the right end of the tank for the second output from the squirt. Probably a 600-700GPH pump for the return pump.

Anyone have any other ideas?

- JT

Little Luey · 03-06-2006, 09:15 AM

I have a mag5 on my closed loop, I used 3/4 pvc pipes and same for the spraybar and a "T" for another output. If I had a chioce I would go with a bigger pump for my little 20 gal tank, the flow is beter than before but I still think I could have got more and be ok, so for your tank I would go with a bigger pump, you will loose a lot of pressure with the elbows and the skwid.

JT · 03-06-2006, 09:25 AM

The Mag5 I mentioned is for the return pump because the sump is only 10G in size. Closed loop pump is to be determined but probably in the 800GPH range. I won't be using a Squid, I plan on using a 2-way OceanMotions Squirt with a penductor on one output so I can achieve more flow with the smaller pump.

Little Luey · 03-06-2006, 09:54 AM

You are right, I missread your post; I must not be fully awake yet.
The plan sounds very good.

Esper · 03-07-2006, 01:04 AM

i have the 30g with an om squirt on a quiet one 4000HH (980 gph, pressure rated), coming out of two 3/4" bulkheads halfway up either side of the tank. the return pump is a mag 7. this is plently of flow, no detritus settles on the bottom and the corals grow in nice and thick. if i were to do it again i'd follow your plan--smaller, but pressure rated pump with a penductor or two. then again, i'm pretty happy right now...

JT · 03-07-2006, 09:30 AM

Thanks for sharing Esper.

ndreefer1 · 04-07-2006, 03:50 PM

Ha, Ive got the exact same tank, and am also converting it to BB this summer.
What I think Ive decided is to keep it simple and use a single Panworld 100-PX (Same as Iwaki 40 I think) as a return pump with a penductor on the return.
Ive got the same setup on a 90 Gal now and it is very stong, more flow then the tunze stream on the other side.

The Panworld is rated for 790 GPH at zero head, but it drops considerably with the penductor, to the pont that all I need is a 1" overflow...

- Bob