the tank im putting together is a 4'x8'x30"tall . the equipment and sump is directly below the tank the sump is going to sit on the floor , im going to use the 2 darts for returns . the 1700 blueline is powering a bullet xl2 skimmer , and then the hammer head and tigers are for the closed loop . half of the loop is going to be for more gentle water flow which is where the hammer head would go . and the tiger would be for more water flow down the road , its going to start out as fowlr and maybe progress into corals . but if i see the need to switch to other flow devices i will look at them , this has been a project 2 yrs in the making that is sooo close to being wet and alot of the stuff has been bought over this time frame .
My tank is damn near the same dims. Mine is 4'x8'x2' tall. I think you've gone way overboard on the pumps. I hope you have a good chiller because I think your going to need it! Like I said above, I would rethink your pumps. After having my tank for nearly 20 years now, I've made many plumbing changes over the years and finally have it setup where my flow is better than ever, my temps are stable enough to not need a chiller and my efficiency is such that it doesn't drive my power bill through the roof. Once upon a time, my tank was costing me over $700 per month in power alone. Now it costs me less than $100 to power it. My bills went from over $1100 per month down to $300 a month and my tank is doing better than it ever has and is infinitely quieter too. That is over $8000 a year in power savings. Multiply that by the time I've owned my tank and the savings is mind boggling!
If I were you, I'd use the hammerhead for the return and maybe a dart for recirc if you really think you need it. That hammerhead has enough power to handle the return and your bullet skimmer as it's pressure rated. . You would just need a T in the return line with a gate valve between the Tank and the T and another gate valve between the T and the skimmer to balance the flow. If you want better flow on the return, add a couple 1" seaswirls. That's what I did
While I understand your thinking, I personally feel very strongly that there are better ways of accomplishing the same if not better flow while eliminating critical points of failure and saving a bundle on power. You may want to read through my build thread. I am sure you could get a lot of ideas and save yourself some headaches down the line. My thread covers my plethora of pumps that I once had as well as my changes to eliminate them and also the unique way I mounted my power heads to my old bulk heads to eliminate wires in my tank. It's a good read and at this critical juncture in your build, it my provide some good ideas for you and save you a bundle in both time and money in the long run.
Here is a link to my thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783476
