How long can i leave a CLS off?

rabeiler · 01-25-2007, 11:17 AM

I was planning on programming my CLS to turn off periodically. I manually shut off when feeding. I notice different behaviors from some of my fish when my CLS is off. When the CLS is off, I would probably have about a total of 2-3 gallons of water in all of the plumbing. How long can it sit there without going "bad"?

thanks,
ross

tashier · 01-25-2007, 11:36 AM

Good question. Following this one.

tashier · 01-25-2007, 11:37 AM

Just to add to this topic, is there any reason to periodically turn your CLS on and off? I've seen/heard people doing this and can't think of why.

afbengochea · 01-25-2007, 11:40 AM

would this be to give it a random flow every once in a while?

tashier · 01-25-2007, 11:48 AM

Possibly I guess, not sure.

mg · 01-25-2007, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tashier

Just to add to this topic, is there any reason to periodically turn your CLS on and off? I've seen/heard people doing this and can't think of why.

Lower electrical costs?

tashier · 01-25-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mg

Lower electrical costs?

Well it would certainly help a little.

rabeiler · 01-25-2007, 12:13 PM

For my situation it really is just to add more randomness to the flow. I use an OceansMotion 4 way that splits into one spray bar in the back and six outlets at the front with a couple of Revolutions.

I wanted to turn it off, possibly for about 30 minutes a couple of times during the evening hours.

No other reasons at this point. Probably turning the motor on and off would actually use more electricity, it would depend upon how often.

mg · 01-25-2007, 02:52 PM

I would think the 4 way and the revolutions would give you plenty of changing currents in the tank. I wouldn't see much benefit of adding one more change by taking most of the current away periodically.

I do know a few people that turn their closed loops off at night because their pumps are a couple hundred watts and they do want to save a little on the electrical costs. I guess it is something you start to think about when your bill gets up over $400 a month.

kwjones · 01-25-2007, 03:12 PM

Heh...this weekend I'm getting rid of my external closed loop and switching to 2 SEIO 1500's because of electricity consumption. Mag 24 at 265 watts vs 2 SEIOs at 34 watts each...and I'm gaining an extra 600 gph water movement.

mg · 01-25-2007, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwjones

Heh...this weekend I'm getting rid of my external closed loop and switching to 2 SEIO 1500's because of electricity consumption. Mag 24 at 265 watts vs 2 SEIOs at 34 watts each...and I'm gaining an extra 600 gph water movement.

I am going in the other direction, had 2 Tunze 6100's and going to a sequence dart on a OM 4-way. Couldn't stand the look of the powerheads any more. I decided to try to save electricity elsewhere such as skimmer and lighting.

Fly Guy · 01-25-2007, 03:24 PM

you dont want to really leave it off for more than a half hour. You could probably get away with a coupole of hours but i wouldnt push it.

Im guessing you have more than just a few gallons in your cls lines. If you do allow that water to "die": the ph will drop to dangerous levels and you dont want to simply put it back into the tank, you want to drain and dump it.

I use 8 ways and although ive never done the exact math.........its a whole lot of water in the 50+ feet of 1 and 1.5" piping, and my cls needs drained if i ever were to shut it off for very long. If you are changing to seios soon anyway...i wouldnt mess with shutting your cls off in the meantime.

The 5-6 times extra it costs in electricity is a bargain to achieve what the OM's can do without having to look at ugly powerheads IMO.

kwjones · 01-25-2007, 03:38 PM

Yeah...I originally built the CLS to get rid of three Maxi-Jet 1200's when I switched to a bare bottom tank. The Mag 24 probably wasn't the best choice to power a CLS either...very noisy even when running restricted and adds WAY too much heat to the tank. I could put it in one of the horse's water trough and the water would never freeze in the winter.

I plumbed mine with 1 1/2" pvc...so there's a few gallons of water in the pipes. I think it took 2 or 3 gallons just to prime it. I guess I've been lucky when the power goes out that nothing bad has happened when it comes back.

Fly Guy · 01-25-2007, 03:41 PM

The external sequence pumps i am using to power my closed loops add more heat than the mag 24 return pump submersed in my sump. The mag 24 is noisy though.

afbengochea · 01-25-2007, 03:46 PM

did u notice a big increase in temp?