Manifold, to run or not to run??

[PedroNeto]

Hey Guys,

I am in the process of plumbing my sump and I wasn't going to build a manifold however I have seen some many people doing it and stating that it helps in the long run that I don't know if I should build one or not.

My sump is a trigger system 39" with 4 areas, first is the drain from the main tank, 2nd is the area for the skimmer, 3rd is the refugium and 4th will be the return pump. I plan in having media reactor (GFO & carbon maybe?) but initially I was going to add another smaller pump to run these on the side of the sump.
With this build, and considering that I don't have much space, should I run a manifold to eventually feed these media reactor or should I keep the original plan of adding a 2nd pump just for the media reactor? This is my very first reef tank (used to have a discus tank) and at the same time I want to keep it as simple as possible, I want to make sure that in the long-run this will be successful. The main tank is 125g.

Your input and help is highly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[homer1475]

I personally opted for a separate pump. All that plumbing seemed daunting and at an extra cost(some of those fittings get expensive). Adversely, I had a pump to run the reactor off of so that cost wasn't figured in.

Either way works, one is just a bit more work to get working.

 

[PedroNeto]

I personally opted for a separate pump. All that plumbing seemed daunting and at an extra cost(some of those fittings get expensive). Adversely, I had a pump to run the reactor off of so that cost wasn't figured in.

Either way works, one is just a bit more work to get working.

Yeah, seems like a separate pump down the road and running the media reactors on the side is much better than decreasing the area of the refugium to run a manifold. Also the cost to get a bigger pump and all the extra money for the plumbing doesn't seem worth it.
Thanks for your input. Cheers

 

[Swensos]

The manifold shouldn't take any room out of your sump area. You can usually run it above or to the side of the sump. I have mine attached up in the corner under the display tank so it's out of the way.

Plus, having one pump for reactors and return will save you space in the end when you don't have to add a bunch of extra pumps for reactors. It takes more time and planning in the beginning, but it will save you space and organization in the long run.

 

[ktownhero]

I personally opted for a separate pump. All that plumbing seemed daunting and at an extra cost(some of those fittings get expensive). Adversely, I had a pump to run the reactor off of so that cost wasn't figured in.

Either way works, one is just a bit more work to get working.

I use a line of silicone tubing to connect my return pump to my PVC return... I just bought a barbed reducer T and spliced it into that silicone tubing. Much easier for the reactor without the need for another wire. Those manifolds that people build look cool but seem like a lot of work for no more than a reducing T and cheap barbed ball valve can handle

 

[billdogg]

I have gone both routes. Manifolds work great if you have a pump stronger than what you need for the tank, but even then I found that any adjustment to one part resulted in changes to everything else i.e turning up flow to the carbon reactor decreased flow to the GFO so I had to turn it up which decreased flow to the carbon......and either can change the return flow to the DT.

I now run a manifold on my frag tank for carbon and gfo if needed. It also has a unused gate valve on it that I hook up to a waste line for water changes. On my DT, I took out the manifold in favor of using 2 small pumps for the carbon and gfo so that the return pump has but one job - returning water to the tank.

Ironically, that means that on the system with the least extra space I added 2 pumps and on the system that has an entire 12x25 room at it's disposal (and a 100g rubbermaid sump) I use a manifold.

Go figure.