Using manifold to feed external skimmer

[JCSReefing]

Is it a bad idea to use a manifold to feed my external skimmer? Pros cons?

 

[Feet4Fish]

I do this with mine and it works just fine. Of course saves the space needed and electricity needed for a separate pump. Of course make sure that you return pump has the oomph to support everything.

 

[mcarroll]

+1

However, it couild be a bit harder to tune vs a dedicated pump, and probably take more power as well. Whether that's a big deal is an open question. Depends on the person, situation.

In general, I try hard to run dedicated pumps for each application. Minimizes the impact of equipment failures, keeps things simple and predictable, among other things.

 

[Feet4Fish]

All great points. Really is dependent on your circumstances.

 

[JCSReefing]

I will be using the Jebao DCP 6500 pump which will feed my tank and manifold. the pump i believe is rated for like 1750 gph and my tank is 65g, then feed my external skimmer and carbon/Gfo reactor so i believe there will still be plenty power/GPH left over to add something else down the road and still get my turn over rate.
this sound ok??

 

[kalare]

I ran everything off a manifold, including my skimmer, for a bit. Even with gate valves and ball valves and whatnot, I decided a dedicated skimmer pump was better for me. Allows me to turn off the skimmer easily, and no more variation in flow going to skimmer. Gate valves and ball valves can get crudded up, in addition, all kinds of things growing in pipes can cause different flow to go to different locations. Each time you stop and start the main pump, everything turns off, and then you have the possibility of different flow.

I would recommend a dedicated pump...much easier to tune.

Also, the DCP 6500 you are thinking of using, please note that after all the elbows and pipe length and whatnot, you'll probably be getting more like 800-900 GPH. Adding a manifold will take even more flow away.

 

[JCSReefing]

Really that much loss with only about 5ft vertical 1" pipe and 2x-45 degree angles?

 

[kalare]

You'd be surprised. Jebao are also not very good with head loss. Some pumps are better than others. I have a Jebao DCT15000 on my return manifold that runs return, two reactors, Calcium reactor, ATS. While my pump is quite overpowered, I don't think I'd do less than the 12000.

If you already have the pump, you can always try it and see how you like it. If you find that the skimmer is not performing to your liking, or not regular, then add an additional dedicated pump. The beauty of the manifold is that it is easily turned off and/or re-purposed to run something else :)

 

[JCSReefing]

I actually just ordered the DCP 10000 since it was dang near the same price as the 6500 off amazon prime so ill be returning the 6500. this should insure me that i will have a better flow rate if i need to turn it up i will have that ability.
Lastly, My tank still uses a dorso drain and right now have the 6500 pump running at 65% return. Is there a way to speed up my drain at all to get more turnover? I have a small hole drilled but wondering if i went to a smaller hole could i get a faster siphen which would then be more turnover?

 

[mcarroll]

You're kinda defeating part of the alleged benefit of having a DC pump by oversizing so much.

Trying to add tank turnover to the list of tasks you're giving the return pump kinda makes that even worse.

Are you trying to do all the flow for the whole system from the return pump? This was the way back in the 1990's, so if you can look back at some old tank of the months from back then, there should be some good inspiration!

But if you're using normal powerheads (Tunze nanosteams, or similar) in the tank for flow, then there's no reason to have an even bigger return pump.

Let's start over with some basics now that there's more data in the thread...

 

[JCSReefing]

I currently am running the dc 6500 as a return with it splitting off to feed my gfo/carbon reactor. Which then got me thinking to use that return pump to make a say 4 valve manifold and feed my skimmer as well rather than run a seperate pump (which currently running a siccee 2.0 to feed the skimmer) i have a 65g tank with 15g sump, running a ecotech mp-40 in the display for flow. the return pump currently is running at 65% with it feeding the reactor. if i go above about 70% on the dcp-6500 , my overflow and dorso drain cant seem to keep up so was wondering if i made the siphen hole smaller would it help speed the drain up to be able to maximize the turnover throught the sump and all. Lastly, i would like to branch off one of the valves from the manifold to feed say a 10 gallon tank to be able to put some frags. that being said is why i am asking if getting the DCP-10000 pump would be better reccommended for future equipment i may purchase to be able to feed off the manifold and still have enough turnover for the main display?

 

[mcarroll]

A 65 gallon tank needs a return flow rate of anywhere between 130 GPH and 260 GPH.

It was listed that the basic height of the return would be 5' and that there were two 45º elbows involved.

Plugging that into a friction loss calculator indicates that the plumbing will contribute almost no additional head-loss. One-tenth of a foot. :)

Pressure Loss (psi): 0.04 Head Loss (ft): 0.1
Line Number:
Date: 2/28/2017
Nominal Pipe Size: 1
Pipe Schedule: SCH 40
Flow Rate (gpm): 4
Viscosity (cP): 1
Specific Gravity (water=1): 1.025
Temperature (F): 79
Pipe Roughness (ft): 0.000016
Actual Pipe ID (in.): 1.049
Fluid Velocity (ft/sec): 1.49
Reynolds Number: 12361
Flow Region: Turbulent
Friction Factor: 0.03
Overall K: 2.49
Piping Length (ft): 6
45 degree Elbows : 2​

At that height with the DCP10000, you'll be pushing about 1,400 GPH.

Even the DCP-5000 is still way way overkill, delivering "only" 660 GPH and you would have saved $10 on the pump ($20 vs the 10000) and have half the power bill (vs the 10000).

A $46 Quiet One 2200 would deliver almost as much "extra" flow for about the same watts as the DCP5000.

 

[JCSReefing]

so should i cancel the DCP-10000? The cost diffrence since its on sale is
DCP-6500 $99
DCP-10000 $102.
It would cost about 13 bucs to ship back the DCP-6500 but would get a higher rated pump for basically 15$?

I currently am running the dc 6500 as a return with it splitting off to feed my gfo/carbon reactor. Which then got me thinking to use that return pump to make a say 4 valve manifold and feed my skimmer as well rather than run a seperate pump (which currently running a siccee 2.0 to feed the skimmer) i have a 65g tank with 15g sump, running a ecotech mp-40 in the display for flow. the return pump currently is running at 65% with it feeding the reactor. if i go above about 70% on the dcp-6500 , my overflow and dorso drain cant seem to keep up so was wondering if i made the siphen hole smaller would it help speed the drain up to be able to maximize the turnover throught the sump and all. Lastly, i would like to branch off one of the valves from the manifold to feed say a 10 gallon tank to be able to put some frags. that being said is why i am asking if getting the DCP-10000 pump would be better reccommended for future equipment i may purchase to be able to feed off the manifold and still have enough turnover for the main display?

 

[DBR_Reef]

so should i cancel the DCP-10000? The cost diffrence since its on sale is
DCP-6500 $99
DCP-10000 $102.
It would cost about 13 bucs to ship back the DCP-6500 but would get a higher rated pump for basically 15$?

I currently am running the dc 6500 as a return with it splitting off to feed my gfo/carbon reactor. Which then got me thinking to use that return pump to make a say 4 valve manifold and feed my skimmer as well rather than run a seperate pump (which currently running a siccee 2.0 to feed the skimmer) i have a 65g tank with 15g sump, running a ecotech mp-40 in the display for flow. the return pump currently is running at 65% with it feeding the reactor. if i go above about 70% on the dcp-6500 , my overflow and dorso drain cant seem to keep up so was wondering if i made the siphen hole smaller would it help speed the drain up to be able to maximize the turnover throught the sump and all. Lastly, i would like to branch off one of the valves from the manifold to feed say a 10 gallon tank to be able to put some frags. that being said is why i am asking if getting the DCP-10000 pump would be better reccommended for future equipment i may purchase to be able to feed off the manifold and still have enough turnover for the main display?

I can't comment on the DCP, but I have the DCS-12000, and I get less than half of the claimed flow at my calculated head. Don't get me wrong, I like the pumps, just don't expect anywhere close to the claimed gph for your head hight- more like 40% of advertised. I honestly think they probably did 2 test- one at zero head and another at max head, then drew a line that looked good to them through the two; and that is probably being generous to their testing :) In my experience, running the pumps at less than 100% extends the life of the electronics significantly, so bigger is probably better to a certain extent.

 

[mcarroll]

I'd switch to the Quiet One for the return and get separate small pumps for the other applications. The Quiet One 1200 is only about $20 and works for many other smaller apps.

Save quite a bit in up-front costs and get a pump with a 3 year warranty.

 

[JCSReefing]

I'd switch to the Quiet One for the return and get separate small pumps for the other applications. The Quiet One 1200 is only about $20 and works for many other smaller apps.

Save quite a bit in up-front costs and get a pump with a 3 year warranty.

I already owned a quietone 4000 and hated the noise from it. I now currently running the dcp-6500 jebao which is dead silent but want to have enough flow for return and also feed skimmer,reactor, 10g Frag Tank and have a spare valve on the manifold.

 

[mcarroll]

Well, there was either something wrong with that 4000 or the installation.....they're dead silent under normal conditions. I've been running a 2200 and 4000 and both were pretty dead silent. I mean the HVAC in my house is louder. :) My 4000 did have a slight rattle for the first week or two while it settled in.

But that's just what I would do...a Sicce, Mag or Eheim would be great alternatives...but even if you want to spend up for the DC pump, the DCP5000 is still more than plenty. There's no sense in going all the way to the DCP10000 IMO.

Spec'ing a pump for "down the road" is kind of dubious anyway – especially so for a pump that may only last a year or two. Spec the pump for what you need right now and keep the extra money in your pocket. $$ :)

 

[JCSReefing]

This is what I created as a manifold. It's only 1/2. The first blue valve coming off the return is the manifold itself on/off. Starting from the left (red) valve supplies the GFO/carbon reactor. Then two spare blue valves after that and last blue valve on the right supplies my skimmer. One of the middle blue valves will supply a 10g Frag Tank that will come off the manifold as a slow flow and drain from the frag tank will then get dumped back into to sump. Anyone see any issues? Pros/cons of this? It is all apex controlled with leak detectors in the sump area, behind display and frag tank and one next to my skimmer. Float switches and breakout box are on both tanks to switch off pumps if either tank level gets too high or drains get clogged.

 

[FirstContact]

I run my recirculating skimmer on a dedicated pump even though I have a manifold. I turn the return pump off for maintenance and feeding. While off, my skimmer keeps constant performance and never misses a beat.