Poll: How do you feed your manifold?

[dbl]

An often discussed topic on new builds is a manifold. Some use them, some do not. For those that do, I'm curious how you feed yours. Myself, I feed it off the return pump. But I've seen others say the prefer to have a separate/dedicated pump just for the manifold.

So if you have a manifold, how are you getting water through it?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Return pump for me. Not every system would allow for this, but in most cases, having just one pump for both is the most efficient/ effective way to do this.

 

[Maacc]

I use a separate pump, same size as my return, it also acts as insurance if the return pump fails, while I get a replacement.

 

[revhtree]

I wasn't getting the fl0w I wanted out of one pump so on my bigger system I am using a separate pump for the manifold.

 

[Flexin]

What's a manifold

 

[Mark Gray]

I have mine on the return pumps but haven't started using it yet

 

[Breadman03]

What's a manifold

Its when you split one line into several for running multiple things, such as the return, skimmer, or reactors. Here is one example from the Internet.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Wow I had no idea we even had manifolds. I may just be naive and new to that idea, but it seems really complex. What’s the benefit from it, just seems more to break.

 

[Breadman03]

Hello,

Wow I had no idea we even had manifolds. I may just be naive and new to that idea, but it seems really complex. What’s the benefit from it, just seems more to break.

It reduces the number of pumps that are needed to run a system. The main challenge is that flow through each chamber can/will change as media levels change or get clogged up.

 

[Livinlocal]

I’m not a fan of manifold because of the inconsistency of pressure when adjusting the valves, especially when it’s ran off the return. I’ve done them both ways and will never do another manifold again.

I hate the fact that when you want to adjust the flow to one valve, it changes the pressure at all other valves because the flow has changed.

For instance; you have 5 valves that are perfectly set where you want them, but you want to shut one valve off for a few minutes. Well when you shut that one valve off, all of the other valves will see more water pressure while the initial valve is still turned off.

Or vise versa

 

[scott11106]

i have dual return pumps running, one side feeds 2 reactors and the other feeds the uv and each return pump runs at 70% so it works well.

 

[scott11106]

forgot to mention that i run my manifold off of a bypass to limit fluctuations in pressure a bit.

 

[ourcoralreef]

I have mine plumbed to my main pump (variable dc pump) and if i need more pressure i raise the pressure on the pump
Here is a photo of it while i was setting it up

 

[Flexin]

Thanks for the description. Maybe we could add another voting option, what's a manifold, lol

 

[DarkSky]

I have a separate DC pump powering my external skimmer and manifold system. The return pump just returns water to the tank.

However what I did was plumb them in a way where I can take one pump offline (cleaning, it broke, etc) and by simply opening a few valves I can run the entire system off of one pump if needed.

Redundancy!

 

[dbl]

Thanks for the description. Maybe we could add another voting option, what's a manifold, lol

The funny part is I originally had that as an option and decided to remove it!

 

[lbacha]

I have mine plumbed into my return. I have 3 extra ball valves for accessories. I have a flow meter on the return end of the manifold and I use a COR15 so I can easily modify flow to keep my return stable when I add or remove reactors, UV, etc

 

[cracker]

I feed a manifold with the return pump. So far, all I feed is the refugium. Not the best in my Op would rather use raw water for that. However my situation needed the compromise. Just remember everyu piece of equipment one uses takes away from the turn over rate.

 

[cracker]

I have mine plumbed into my return. I have 3 extra ball valves for accessories. I have a flow meter on the return end of the manifold and I use a COR15 so I can easily modify flow to keep my return stable when I add or remove reactors, UV, etc

a flow meter would be nice where did You install?

 

[Teddy00024]

I actually just finished my manifold over the weekend. My first plumbing job so I hope all works out well. It is being powered by a Varios 6 return pump.