Rate my plumbing, or give me som ideas on what you would do differently.

Bugeater281 · Oct 11, 2020

200g system. Vectra m2 for the closed loop, jabao for the return. Plumbed so I can add a 2nd closed loop pump in the future. Recirculating skimmer being fed by the drain. Closed loop plumbing will all run under the tank at the top of the stand to clean up the sump area and keep that out of sight.

currently,
2 x 1.5in drains for the closed loop pumps(didn’t want crazy suction to hopefully keep debree out).
4 x 3/4 returns.
1 drain and 2 returns for each closed loop pump installed.

skimmer calls for 550gph. Return pump is 2500gph. Drain is 1.5in. Hoping to run the skimmer of the drain to avoid abother pump in the stand. And to also allow higher flow in the tank without pushing the full 1800gph through therefugium

xxkenny90xx · Oct 12, 2020

I'll be honest I can't make sense of most of that but UNIONS, lots of unions...

DCR · Oct 12, 2020

Are you only running a single gravity drain? I don't think feeding the skimmer from an open gravity drain is going to work very well, unless it was a full syphon drain and the take-off was ahead of the throttle valve. You are likely to get very unstable two phase (air and water) feed to your skimmer. I would feed it from the return pump. Not sure how large your closed loop pumps are but the four 3/4" returns seem undersized for two 1-1/2" suction lines.

Bugeater281 · Oct 12, 2020

DCR said:
Are you only running a single gravity drain? I don't think feeding the skimmer from an open gravity drain is going to work very well, unless it was a full syphon drain and the take-off was ahead of the throttle valve. You are likely to get very unstable two phase (air and water) feed to your skimmer. I would feed it from the return pump. Not sure how large your closed loop pumps are but the four 3/4" returns seem undersized for two 1-1/2" suction lines.

The pump I’m running is a 1.25 intake and 1in output. The two 3/4in shouldn’t cause any restrictions(area of 2 3/4in pipes is a little larger than a single 1in pipe). I made the suction line larger, so they arnt actually causing a lot of suction. Figured that would help keep the lines cleaner and prevent fish from getting caught.

I was planing on doing a full syphon drain. I’m currently trying to decide the best way to do it on this tank

DCR · Oct 12, 2020

You cannot just run a siphon drain. You need to have a gravity overflow as well (Herbie) or else you will be making constant adjustments and are almost certain to have an overflow at some point. You could feed the skimmer from the slip stream of the full siphon.

I would generally expect the 3/4" lines to carry about 300-400 gph each. If you are putting eductors on each of them to increase the effective flow, then four is probably about right. I would still probably lean towards 1" piping for a closed loop. It is a mistake to assume that you only need to match the outlet nozzle on the pump. Pumps are designed with restricted discharge nozzles to improve efficiency. You generally should increase the discharge piping by one or two pipe sizes for most applications - especially a closed loop where you really want maximum flow.

Bugeater281 · Oct 12, 2020

DCR said:
You cannot just run a siphon drain. You need to have a gravity overflow as well (Herbie) or else you will be making constant adjustments and are almost certain to have an overflow at some point. You could feed the skimmer from the slip stream of the full siphon.

I would generally expect the 3/4" lines to carry about 300-400 gph each. If you are putting eductors on each of them to increase the effective flow, then four is probably about right. I would still probably lean towards 1" piping for a closed loop. It is a mistake to assume that you only need to match the outlet nozzle on the pump. Pumps are designed with restricted discharge nozzles to improve efficiency. You generally should increase the discharge piping by one or two pipe sizes for most applications - especially a closed loop where you really want maximum flow.

Wouldn’t you get closer to 1400gph from a 3/4in pipe? I mean the vectra s2’s output is 3/4 and rated at 1400gph. I would assume the vectra all run at around the same pressure. The m1(I listed the wrong pump, mine is actually the m1) is listed at 2000gph with a 1in output. And with is being a closed loop. There should be very little head pressure(will be around 3ft of plumbing between 2 3/4in outlets, but all horizontal plumbing.

Based on this chart, if the m1 can make 2000gph with a 1in outlet. Then it’s running between 20-100psi. And at that pressure the chart list 3/4in at 1440gph. Which should hypothetically give me plenty of flow out of 2 3/4in outputs. Max of 2800 minus plumbing friction, turns and the 6in of head height.

DCR · Oct 12, 2020

Bugeater281 said:
Wouldn’t you get closer to 1400gph from a 3/4in pipe? I mean the vectra s2’s output is 3/4 and rated at 1400gph. I would assume the vectra all run at around the same pressure. The m1(I listed the wrong pump, mine is actually the m1) is listed at 2000gph with a 1in output. And with is being a closed loop. There should be very little head pressure(will be around 3ft of plumbing between 2 3/4in outlets, but all horizontal plumbing.

Based on this chart, if the m1 can make 2000gph with a 1in outlet. Then it’s running between 20-100psi. And at that pressure the chart list 3/4in at 1440gph. Which should hypothetically give me plenty of flow out of 2 3/4in outputs. Max of 2800 minus plumbing friction, turns and the 6in of head height.

That is not how it works. The Vectra M2 puts out 21.4 ft of head (about 9 psi) at zero flow rate and zero head at 2000 gph. Ecotech no longer publishes a head curve for their pumps, but assuming a linear curve, at 1400 gph, it will likely only deliver about 6-7 ft of head which is about 3 psi. The only column on that chart that is at all useful is the gravity flow column and even that is pretty aggressive for small bore piping (6 ft/sec). 20-100 psig is equal to 46-230 ft of head which is outside of most any home aquarium system. The chart is for spa type systems.

I would recommend two 1" return lines if you want to get 1400 gph per pump. At a minimum, it will allow you to operate the pump at a lower speed and achieve higher flows.