Plumbing Question

[Itchy Trigger]

I'm currently plumbing a 550g tank (120" x 36" x30"). The tank has six 1.5" drains on the bottom and the sump has six 1.5" bulkheads to receive the drains. If I were to run one designated 1.5" line of pipe from each drain on the bottom of the tank to each bulkhead on the sump, things would get awfully cluttered down there. Is it advisable to, say, group each set of two drains together? So each pair of drains would gang together and tee off to two lines on either end. It would be a lot neater this way, but I imagine it would constrict the flow. So I maybe could go from two 1.5" lines on each end up to a larger diameter pipe for the run where each group of two drains came together (as in pic #2). Would this work well? If so, what size pipe would I want to go up to when the lines are ganged like this? 2" Last pic would be my other solution, which would essentially just be a neater way of running all pipes at 1.5" for the whole run.

Any other suggestions for doing this would be welcome.

 

[JohnL]

I would love to see a photo of the tank and sump. I've never had such a large tank. I'm thinking it would depend on the flow through the system. Are you going to have a ball valve in the return line to adjust the flow rate if necessary?

 

[Itchy Trigger]

I would love to see a photo of the tank and sump. I've never had such a large tank. I'm thinking it would depend on the flow through the system. Are you going to have a ball valve in the return line to adjust the flow rate if necessary?

Tried to post a pic now, but had difficulty. Will try again later. I'm going for LOTS of flow. I was unable to source any 2.5" pipe, which would - I believe - be the correct size to match the flow through two 1.5" drains. Will likely just use all 1.5" I have a few new ideas. Yes, there will be valves on each of the three 3170 gph Current DC pumps, though I'd like to be able to leave them all the way open!

 

[JohnL]

I'd like to be able to leave them all the way open!

My kinda guy!