Manifold Plumbing

kmwrestle

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 3, 2021
Messages
18
Reaction score
19
Location
Westborough
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Would this work for a plumbing my return line. I am looking to have my return pump tee off. the right side of the tee would go to a manifold to feed reactors etc and the top going to the display. the end of the manifold would go to a uv sterilizer. the uv sterilizer would then return back into the main return line via a wye connector and back into the DT. I added a markup to try to explain what i am thinking. All the red boxes would be gate valves to control flow. Any issues with this? would it work? My goal is to run the uv sterilizer and reactors via a manifold but also have the ability to have extra flow to the DT and still maintain the closed loop for the UV


Screen Shot 2021-07-28 at 7.46.51 PM.png
 

DCR

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
819
Reaction score
682
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It will work but you will have to throttle back on the bypass valve to flow through the sterilizer which may reduce your return flow more than you would like. Some sterilizers take a lot of head loss. It depends a lot on the pump and sterilizer selection, and how much flow you are trying to achieve through the sterilizer and the total return.
 
OP
OP
K

kmwrestle

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 3, 2021
Messages
18
Reaction score
19
Location
Westborough
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It will work but you will have to throttle back on the bypass valve to flow through the sterilizer which may reduce your return flow more than you would like. Some sterilizers take a lot of head loss. It depends a lot on the pump and sterilizer selection, and how much flow you are trying to achieve through the sterilizer and the total return.
is there a better way to do it? i only have 1 return line back to the DT
 

DCR

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
819
Reaction score
682
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The only other way would be to return the UV outlet to the sump. Pushing through the UV and up to the DT adds some additional backpressure or head requirement on the pump. A lot of the UV's have 3/4" or smaller barbs that really restrict the flow rate. It may not be a problem for you - it all depends on the pump size, plumbing size, the UV, and the return flow you want (or tank size you are dealing with). If the total return flow is relatively low or you have a strong, relatively high head pump, it may be fine.
 

Saltyanimals

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 4, 2016
Messages
1,001
Reaction score
455
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I had a very similar design on my manifold with only one less head on the manifold on an 180G tank. The proper plumbing guidance is the wye upstream of the tee to ensure sanitized water returns to DT and not just continuously cleans the sump. The problem I experience is exactly what you called out with the head pressure and overall reduction of flow given my M2 pump (2k gph). I can see from the water movement into the overflow that I was getting very flow when I see food float around and not get immediately sucked into the overflow. This shows a big flow problem.

Solution: I had to upgrade to L2 pump however I think the key along with more power is at the tee. My general plumbing is 3/4 including the tee. If you think about the tee for a minute, it is limited to amount of max flow given the diameter and other factors such as friction etc. So for argument sake, let's call it 100gph going through the tee entry point before the split. ~50/50. That immediately reduces overall flow through the exit points of the tee within the 3/4 max flow.

My L2 had a much larger 1 1/4 output, so I actually used a larger tee and did : 1 1/4 : 3/4 : 3/4. Bit of PVC legos, but the logic is that you're allowing 1 1/4 max rate before the 50/50 split. I visually see the flow increase with the food and overflow.
 
Back
Top