Moving ~600GPH in a shrimplet safe way

[Harry Muscle]

I need to add more water movement to my upcoming 112G tank. My sump will be moving around 400GPH so I'm hoping to add around 600GPH of water flow via some sort of pump/powerhead/etc.

Since the tank will have shrimp I need to do this in a way that will not kill shrimplets.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to accomplish this.

Thanks,
Harry

 

[Reefer James]

position the circulation pumps behind wood or rock

 

[Harry Muscle]

position the circulation pumps behind wood or rock

Thanks, but I doubt that would prevent shrimplets from finding their way into a pump.

Thanks,
Harry

 

[icydeath]

Assuming your intake is circular, try to find a pvc fitting called a reducer that will fit on it. If the fit is loose, you can always use silicon to fill the gap. What you want to do is find one where the small end fits the intake with a larger opening at the end. What this does is it decreases the amount of suction power created by the pump. Now you want to put a strainer over it to prevent the baby shrimp from getting stuck. You may use a large sponge (this will most likely be the best course of action , a good example of this is a sponge filter where the sponge is much larger than the intake and provides very high surface area to reduce suction) or just stuff the reducer with fiber matting (this method works best if you have a pretty large intake/reducer which you probably dont). This will lower the flow-rate, but it will prevent baby shrimp from getting sucked in.

 

[Harry Muscle]

Assuming your intake is circular, try to find a pvc fitting called a reducer that will fit on it. If the fit is loose, you can always use silicon to fill the gap. What you want to do is find one where the small end fits the intake with a larger opening at the end. What this does is it decreases the amount of suction power created by the pump. Now you want to put a strainer over it to prevent the baby shrimp from getting stuck. You may use a large sponge (this will most likely be the best course of action , a good example of this is a sponge filter where the sponge is much larger than the intake and provides very high surface area to reduce suction) or just stuff the reducer with fiber matting (this method works best if you have a pretty large intake/reducer which you probably dont). This will lower the flow-rate, but it will prevent baby shrimp from getting sucked in.

Thanks ... I probably should have mentioned in my original post but I'm having trouble finding a pump that I can do such modifications to and that's reasonably sized. Pumps that have such openings are usually centrifugal and to get 600GPH means they are quite large. It would be ideal to be able to make such modifications to a small propeller pump. Figuring out an easy way to this though is proving difficult.

Thanks,
Harry

 

[coralbandit]

As far as new circulation pumps being shrimp safe good luck on the hydors or jeboas.
Hagen(aqua clear) makes a water polishing cartridge for their powerheads;
http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Pumps/Circulation/A575
They work awesome(maybe to good ).
A simple round sponge like from an air driven sponge filter can be installed before powerhead intake also.
I use both of the above although I keep NO shrimp!
The sponge is easier to maintain,cheaper and the shrimp will go to it to eat from(you'll see!).

 

[icydeath]

Thanks ... I probably should have mentioned in my original post but I'm having trouble finding a pump that I can do such modifications to and that's reasonably sized. Pumps that have such openings are usually centrifugal and to get 600GPH means they are quite large. It would be ideal to be able to make such modifications to a small propeller pump. Figuring out an easy way to this though is proving difficult.

Thanks,
Harry

If you want a pump that is small and easy to modify, a maxi jet comes to mind. That being said, I don't think they get to 600 gph. This begs the question, regardless of brand or pump, why do you not just use multiple pumps? For example, 3 200 gph powerheads would be much easier to make shrimp safe, be easier to hide (as there are probably multiple places for each to hide), and ensure better circulation.