Ultima II Question

A

AroNoob

Member
Hello,

Just reading the Ultima II manual and they recommend for aquarium set ups to place the pickup (drain) on the bottom of one side of the tank and the return to the top of the opposite side of the tank. Is this safe with a closed system or do you think it's too risky? Do you think the suggested set up would work for an 8' x 3' tank?

I would prefer not to set up dual overflows but I don't really trust their suggestion.

Thanks,

Ron
 
G

glamit

Member
AroNoob said:
Hello,

Just reading the Ultima II manual and they recommend for aquarium set ups to place the pickup (drain) on the bottom of one side of the tank and the return to the top of the opposite side of the tank. Is this safe with a closed system or do you think it's too risky? Do you think the suggested set up would work for an 8' x 3' tank?

I would prefer not to set up dual overflows but I don't really trust their suggestion.

Thanks,

Ron
Click to expand...

Hey Ron
it's a closed system there's nowhere for the water to go it's completely safe. I still put on a check valve anyways just in case I change the system around. That's exactly how I plumbed the ultima for my new 8 footer. I'll post some pictures up of how I did it if u like??
 
A

AroNoob

Member
glamit said:
Hey Ron
it's a closed system there's nowhere for the water to go it's completely safe. I still put on a check valve anyways just in case I change the system around. That's exactly how I plumbed the ultima for my new 8 footer. I'll post some pictures up of how I did it if u like??
Click to expand...

Thanks Glen, that would be great. It would be awesome if I don't have to waste space with overflows.

Not going with sump, my plan is tank -> pump -> Ultima II -> Mechanical filter -> UV Sterilizer -> tank. I may put an inline heater in the system but haven't decided yet. I was thinking of having the strainer with an 8" stand pipe so even if there were a catastophic leak in the system, I wouldn't have full drainage.
 
A

AroNoob

Member
Hi Glen,

Thanks for the posts, your 600 gallon is similar to what I was thinking but you still can drill a hole in the elbow of your intake to break the syphon in the event of a leak, I am planning to drill from the bottom and using a stand pipe up. I guess I can use a 12" stand pipe so if something goes wrong I will have at least 12" of water and my drip always adding new water. I am also worried with one intake and one drain are there going to be any dead spots? I guess I can add powerheads to make sure everything is flowing towards the drain.

Thanks again,

Ron
 
G

glamit

Member
AroNoob said:
Hi Glen,

Thanks for the posts, your 600 gallon is similar to what I was thinking but you still can drill a hole in the elbow of your intake to break the syphon in the event of a leak, I am planning to drill from the bottom and using a stand pipe up. I guess I can use a 12" stand pipe so if something goes wrong I will have at least 12" of water and my drip always adding new water. I am also worried with one intake and one drain are there going to be any dead spots? I guess I can add powerheads to make sure everything is flowing towards the drain.

Thanks again,

Ron
Click to expand...

hey Ron
not to sure what you mean by in the event of a leak? also you shouldnt have dead spots if you get a big enough ultima you can use a pretty large pump.
 
A

AroNoob

Member
glamit said:
hey Ron
not to sure what you mean by in the event of a leak? also you shouldnt have dead spots if you get a big enough ultima you can use a pretty large pump.
Click to expand...

Hey Glen,

I meant in the event that some part of the closed system fails and water is allowed to drain (i.e. pipe failure).

I am thinking of using an Ultima II 2000 for my 450 gallon but I may have to use a bigger pump than they recommended as will be going through a mechanical filter, UV sterilizer and maybe an inline heater after the Ultima II.

Ron
 
G

glamit

Member
oic well i dont think a hole on the elbow will work, im sure your pump will be strong enough to keep pumping the water. i woouldnt go with too big of a pump if the flow is too strong your bacteria will not settle.
 
A

AroNoob

Member
Hey Glen,

Sorry I should have been more clear on what situation I was worried about a leak for. I am worried that if the power goes out and for some reason my pipe breaks at the pump intake. So now it's a free flowing siphon, with your set up a hole in the elbow will break the siphon when the water reaches that level. The way I was going to do it was with the drain in the bottom of the tank but if a similar failure as above happened, it would drain my tank completely. So I was thinking of a 12" stand pipe which would stop draining once the water level got to 12".

I'll go through my head calculations when i size my pump and make sure I still fall below the 2500 gph max rate for the Ultima II 2000.

Thanks,

Ron
 
G

glamit

Member
oic yah its always good to have a backup.. i didnt do that thinking that it is a closed system but you never know i guess.
 
carcrazy

carcrazy

New Member
I've had my UltimaII 2000 and UltimaII 1000 going for about 3 years now. I have the intake and output tubes on the same side and have never had a problem. I don't have a check valve installed either, though it sounds like a good idea. I have had no problems at all with these filters and have used reeflo pumps on them as well (barracuda and dart) with no problems.
 
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