Another plumbing question

[thejoshdavis]

I was going to post this in my build thread, but wanted to make sure I got more looks at it and opinions.

Here is a crude mspaint of my 125 setup. Utilizing 45° elbows everywhere and no 90° elbows in place until the return at the top of the tank. The pump is a Mag 9.5. PVC is 3/4"

My plan is to run 2 media reactors off the pump and have a spare for a third, but most likely it will be a water change line. During my dry...well wet runs the return flow is more of a trickle after the manifold for the reactors was added. The red lines are ball valves. Would a better idea be adding a second pump for the reactors or upgrading to a larger pump. Good chance my plumbing isnt ideal, so I'm curious to see what you guys have in mind.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, you could set it up that way, you'd be taking away from the return flow total return gph from the sump though. You could up the pump some, then have a return T so you were able to fine tune the return with these branches.

 

[thejoshdavis]

Yea, you could set it up that way, you'd be taking away from the return flow total return gph from the sump though. You could up the pump some, then have a return T so you were able to fine tune the return with these branches.

That was another idea I had. Upping the pump, then splitting the return and having it shoot out both ends of the tank. Plan to run biopellets or eco-bac in a SMR1 reactor and carbon in a BRS single reactor. Going away from GFO for pellets...I think.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[bknapp]

I am running a carbon reactor, ecoBAK, and an algae scrubber off of my return pump via a manifold and I am getting pretty good water pressure off of the returns. The tank is 110 gallons and I am running an ecoPLUS 1262 as my return pump, which is rated for around 1200 gph. I can try and take pictures tonight when I get home if you'd like.

 

[thejoshdavis]

I am running a carbon reactor, ecoBAK, and an algae scrubber off of my return pump via a manifold and I am getting pretty good water pressure off of the returns. The tank is 110 gallons and I am running an ecoPLUS 1262 as my return pump, which is rated for around 1200 gph. I can try and take pictures tonight when I get home if you'd like.

yeah man, that would be awesome if you could. That's the exact pump I was looking at.

 

[bknapp]

I was thinking I needed to upgrade the pump when I did the plumbing but haven't seen the need to.

 

[pickupman66]

you may want a larger pump to run that much off it. remember you ahve to also compensate for the lift of the water. one think I always consider with plumbing is you can always dial back a pump, but you can never make pump more than its rating. (unless you are Tim Taylor)

 

[thejoshdavis]

you may want a larger pump to run that much off it. remember you ahve to also compensate for the lift of the water. one think I always consider with plumbing is you can always dial back a pump, but you can never make pump more than its rating. (unless you are Tim Taylor)

I may just get the eco 1267 and use that and have the mag as a backup

 

[ibbennyb]

personally ive gone away from using pvc and gone to soft tubing. mainly for the fact of being able to move things around easier during maint. etc. you best bet is to build a manifold and use ball valves to regulate water pressure.

 

[bknapp]

Just make sure not to skimp and be cheap. Use unions! Anywhere and everywhere, it costs more up front but can save you from disaster later.

 

[thejoshdavis]

Yeah I've got 4 unions on the return and 2 on the overflow.


From my iDevice

 

[bknapp]

Here's a quick picture I took of the way my manifold is ran. The main plumbing is 1" and I turned it down to 3/4" to the reactors, what you can't see is the algae scrubber that is also powered off of the manifold. Hope this helps.

 

[pickupman66]

Here is my manifold. its 1" across the back. water comes in from the left from the mainpump. before this it is split off for the skimmer. on to the rightis the rest that goes thru the chiller.

 

[thejoshdavis]

Forgot I had these pics.

From my iDevice

 

[thejoshdavis]

Hit send too quick. This was a rough draft before I added the tank and water


From my iDevice

 

[bknapp]

Looks good, might not be a bad idea to get a strap to screw the plumbing to the back of the stand to help lower vibration and to help hold the weight. And it also looks like the PVC is leaning against the back of the sump, if it is that will create a bunch of vibration.

 

[thejoshdavis]

Yeah I have J hooks in place now. It changed a little when I got the tank on the stand.


From my iDevice

 

[bknapp]

Good deal.

 

[Dowtish]

I agree on going with the ecoplus, I run the same as Brandon, but I would go bigger if I were you with a manifold so there is more flow than less. Like Lindsey said, you can always dial back. I had the 1500 gph model at one point and it was quiet even dialed back, but it was just too much since I didnt have a manifold.