Sanity check my manifold before I permanently mess it up with glue

[Eclyps19]

Hey all, this is my first time building out a manifold and really doing any hard plumbing whatsoever. I'm converting my Red Sea Reefer 525XL with a v3 sump to 1" and adding a manifold. I want to glue this together tomorrow which scares me to death, but it just needs to be done. Please let me know if you see any big mistakes or things that I need to adjust. Other than the slightly crooked pipes, of course... this is just a quick dry-fit

I've converted the Red Sea standard 32mm to 1" once it reaches the sump area (basically where the red pipe starts). Two on the right are the down pipe and overflows, 1" gate valve for controlling flow. These are set up almost identical to how the stock pipes are, so not too concerned about that.

The two 45 degree joints are where my return is. I'm connecting a 1" braided vinyl tube for to my return pump just for some additional flexibility here (not connected in the photo).

The 1" return T's out to the main return line back to the DT and also to a 90 degree joint to the manifold. Standard ball valve to entirely shut down the manifold if needed, but plan on leaving it fully open. Immediately after the manifold valve I'm reducing from 1" down to 1/2". Along the top I've added 3 x 1/2" ball valves for additional plumbing down the road if I decide that I need it. The end of each ball valve has a barb to hook in a 1/2" vinyl tube but that can be swapped out since those are just threaded with tape. The very last ball valve to the left of the area is going to feed my fuge which will be a converted ATO tank pushed all the way to the left. It'll just be a 1/2" vinyl tube that feeds the fuge, so it'll just hang off of the barb up there and go down. I'll control the flow of that via the valve (obviously). I will *probably* just let my fuge overflow back into the chamber where the skimmer is. I know I'll get some re-processing of the same water, but I can't imagine it's a huge issue.

Here's what it will look like with the fuge and skimmer

Please let me know if you see any major issues!

 

[JoshH]

You're going to want to move this valve over to the next pipe otherwise you are going to have issues forcing water towards your manifold. Or I guess add a second valve as you won't be able to isolate the manifold when you move it over

Other than that it looks pretty good to me.

 

[dschuffert]

You're going to want to move this valve over to the next pipe otherwise you are going to have issues forcing water towards your manifold. Or I guess add a second valve as you won't be able to isolate the manifold when you move it over

Other than that it looks pretty good to me.

I concur, put a second valve where JoshH identified. You will want this should you need to balance output flow to the tank and manifold section. You will want to leave the valve on the manifold section too.

 

[Eclyps19]

Thanks! Will a ball valve do or should I go with a gate valve?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Actually... I was going to say you need to change the efficiency of the flow. right now it goes to your manifold and your return is a hard right, so most of your flow is going to bypass the return without any back pressure. Your manifold is going to use low pressure anyway. UV, Chiller, reactor, etc. those things do not need a lot of GPH. So keep your return in line with your pump and "T" off to your manifold. Where is your check valve in all this? It should be above your return/manifold "T" but close to your return pump as possible. Also you should add a union between your manifold and your return for the future, for maintenance and or if you want to use a separate pump on your manifold.
Lastly use gate valves on your manifold outputs because you will have to precisely adjust the flow for most thing you will attach to it.
Looks good though!

 

[Eclyps19]

Actually... I was going to say you need to change the efficiency of the flow. right now it goes to your manifold and your return is a hard right, so most of your flow is going to bypass the return without any back pressure. Your manifold is going to use low pressure anyway. UV, Chiller, reactor, etc. those things do not need a lot of GPH. So keep your return in line with your pump and "T" off to your manifold. Where is your check valve in all this? It should be above your return/manifold "T" but close to your return pump as possible. Also you should add a union between your manifold and your return for the future, for maintenance and or if you want to use a separate pump on your manifold.
Lastly use gate valves on your manifold outputs because you will have to precisely adjust the flow for most thing you will attach to it.
Looks good though!

Thanks. No check valve here, the sump has more than enough volume to handle the water that gets siphoned down when the pump stops, and it’s never been an issue before.

I get what you’re saying about the T on the return line, but will an elbow there and then a T further up really help that much if flow through the manifold is already restricted?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Thanks. No check valve here, the sump has more than enough volume to handle the water that gets siphoned down when the pump stops, and it’s never been an issue before.

I get what you’re saying about the T on the return line, but will an elbow there and then a T further up really help that much if flow through the manifold is already restricted?

No check valve is fine since your sump can handle the back siphon. I would get a bunch of air in the form of micro bubbles if I didn’t have a check valve.
If you do an elbow and a "t" yes you would have a flow restriction but I don't think as bad as using the back pressure of the water to be able to redirect to flow up to the return. Think of it as an old school powerhead, on the output you have your main unrestricted outlet and on top of that you have a hole that sucks air in. If you use your finger to make a restriction on the outlet hole, water will then come out the air inlet. In your current configuration your using the restriction of your manifold to create the divergence to your return. If you run it where the manifold runs off the "T" your using the head pressure of the return to divert water into your manifold. Now technically you can create a reverse siphon if your pump was powerful enough to overcome the head pressure restriction. Which is why you would have the valve higher up after the T in case that situation would arise.
There is a picture in my build thread on how mine is set up. the open valve is where my input to my manifold goes. (not built at the time)