Manifold Ideas

[Reef_bones]

Lets see some manifolds. I need to design a manifold for my 75g closed loop. The intake for the CL will be drilled through the back of the tank but the CL return manifold will come from over the back. The pump will be an iwaki 40rxt......

 

[BeanAnimal]

I would suggest an ocean motions.

If you don't want to spend the money, then a complete "loop" wokrs out the best. Run 3/4 PVC around the top of the tank and put a few Tees into it for connection to locline. The LOOP will create equal flow and pressure through the manifold as opposed to one that is dead ended.

 

[Reef_bones]

OK so a complete loop around the top... I can do that. What size. The pump has a 1" outlet, In previous set up used as a return I had 1.25 all the way up to the tank. The position of the pump in the closed loop would be about 18" below the top of the tank. So If I go 1.25" pipe from the pump to the top of the tank should I go down to 1" or 3/4" for the circle around the top of the tank and 1/2" for the actual locline openings... How many openings should I use 6 or 8.




Hope you understand what I am saying...lol

 

[BeanAnimal]

3/4 should be fine. However that many opening are not going to produce a lot of velocity. That is the reason I suggested an oceans motions.

 

[Reef_bones]

Ocean motions would be nice, and eventually I will have that toy as my wife calls it..lol...But for now I am just doing a simple manifold.

So 1.25" to the 3/4" ring around the top, then 5 @ 1/2" locline returns (one in each corner and one dead center in the front)...Does that sound about like 250 GPH at each exit.

 

[BeanAnimal]

How many GPH is the pump rated?

 

[Reef_bones]

1400gph... When I do all the plumbing in the RC head loss calculator it seems to come up to 1200gph total, which would be about 220 per outlet if there is 5 right...

 

[BeanAnimal]

sounds reasonable... I would use SLIPxSLIPxTHREAD tees. That way you can glue a bunch in, and if there is not enough flow through each, unthread the locline and thread in a plug.

 

[twokayaks]

I've got a sequence dart running my closed loop system. Originally I used 2 outlets in the back, 2 in the front, and 1 on each end of the tank, total of 6 outlets. I eventually closed off the 2 in the front and improved my overall flow. I also used 1.25" pvc for the "ring" around the top. You'll get less frictional resistence with the 1.25 instead of .75" and improve your overall flow. You can use 1.25"x1.25"x1" tees and then use a 1 to 3/4" threaded bushing to get an overall 1.25x1.25x3/4" tee. Here's a pic http://www.gilandbri.com/html/aquascaped__0.html

 

[Reef_bones]

Thats what I was looking for. Thanks guys.