SCWD and unfiltered water

[Fish]

Hi all,
I am just redoing my tank and would like to pick up a SCWD to run on a closed loop with my blueline HD20 pump. I have noticed that the manufacturer recomends using filtered water but does anyone have any experience pumping unfiltered water through it? I plan on soaking it in a vinigar bath every few months to keep it clean.
Also, anyone know where the best place to get one is? I've heard that Wai's carries them.
Thanks,

- Chad

[Invigor]

i run mine on a closed loop with zero mechanical filtration, no problems as of yet.

j&l sells them for $54.99 which is really cheap compared to other places.

[Fish]

Invigor,

Great, thanks for the tip. How long has yours been running? How do you like the flow it gives you?

- Chad

[LostMind]

They are not so easy to clean.

[mr_alberta]

I ran mine without filtration for about 6months without cleaning off of a MAG 7. It never clogged up, but it was quite loud (sounded like grinding gears when it switched sides). It got quite annoying once I moved my tank to my room.

[dbdavid]

I have been running mine on a closed loop for over a year and a half with no problems. Mine is completely silent. I run mine on a Mag 7 but wish I had put it on a Mag 9.

PS.. I have only cleaned it once. :redface:

Dave

[Invigor]

I ran mine without filtration for about 6months without cleaning off of a MAG 7. It never clogged up, but it was quite loud (sounded like grinding gears when it switched sides). It got quite annoying once I moved my tank to my room.

I run mine on a mag12 :) it grinds a little but only when it switches to the right side. it's been running for about a month. i've got 2 returns on each side of the device...that was a mistake :P I thought 1200g/hr thru 2 would be ok...killed my surface turbulence.

[Fish]

Thanks for your advise guys. I am anticipating that the pump will put about 300 gph through the scwd (after losses). Is this too little flow, or is it ok?

- Chad

[Richer]

I'm running a mag950 unfiltered through my scwd for the past 4-5 months. I'd guess that I'm getting around 600-700gph through my outputs... maybe a bit more. The outputs switch once every 7 seconds or so. This is on top of the two MJ powerheads I have running in the tank. I got some pretty decent random flow in my tank... and it got better when I stuck on two ocean motion revolutions on there. Needless to say, I got a pretty high turnover rate on my 30 gallon :mrgreen:

-Richer

[LostMind]

I have to say, that I have dealt with 3 scwd's. I thought they were great and cheap way to give some more random flow in the tank.

I made a newb mistake with one, put it in place where I couldnt take it out to clean it. It failed in 5 months.

The second one was on my friends tank. I think he had it running for 9 months. When we moved his tank, the scwd was only allowing water out 1 side. So it was no longer working. I dont think he ever cleaned it either.

I had a second scwd on my tank to replace the first. It also failed within 4 -5 months. I even TRIED to clean it every month or so. But like I said, its not easy to clean. I was only able to rinse it out with vinegar and water...

Anyways, just my experiences with the product. Perhaps my T4 pump was too powerful for it. I dunno.

[Fish]

Lostmind, I appreciate your experience... I'm worried that the scwd would fail sooner with a low-flow pump than it would with a more powerful pump. I am wondering if it would help if every once in a while I put the pump inlet and scwd outlet lines in a jug of vinegar and water and just pumped it in a loop for a while. The pressure might clean the scwd out better than just a bath... probably clean the pump out at the same time.


I wonder why there is such a wide range of experiences with this device. Some people don't clean them and they last over two years. Some clean them regularily and they fail. Some are silent, some grind...
Are there different models or generations of scwds or is it just "luck of the draw"?

- Chad

[LostMind]

Honestly, out of the 3, ALL made noise. Not that bad, but audible.

I think the user experience depends on a lot of factors... everyone is using different pumps, differently plumbing, etc etc....

[monza]

I have three- one about two years old, one just over a year, the last one just under a year. All work great, no noise. The only cleaning I've done was thinking about I should be doing some. (knock on wood) All three have different flow rates. So I don't know what to say why some work better then others? Yes Wai's does carry them.

On another note I'm upgrading my tank and want way more flow I'm pretty sure I'm going to try the Ocean Motion set up, just deciding on pumps for it.

Dave

[Fish]

Dave,
Are you pumping filtered or "dirty" water? Are any of your flows close to 300gph? I figure that at that rate it will take me around 20 seconds to switch back and forth.
Let me know if you will be selling any of your scwds when you upgrade...

Thanks,

- Chad

[monza]

My flow rates are about 1300, 750, 300, dirty water. When I upgrade if you still intersted I'll let you know. ( hopefully about a month)

Dave

[Fish]

Cool, thanks Dave. And thanks for the info everyone.

- Chad

[stephane]

I just came back from a las vegas pet show and have see the new prototype of the 1" version serie

they will be out in about a month :mrgreen:

[Fish]

Stephane,
Did you notice if they have also redesigned the 3/4" version? I read somewhere that the new ones would allow you to take them apart for cleaning. Hope so.

- Chad

[stephane]

I didn't look at the 3/4 sorry

but the 1" could be dissasemble for cleaning and also it came with replacmeent part to change the swithching time from one side to another

very great impovment IMO