Return plumbing question on 75g

[Pearson]

I am trying to plan out my return plumbing and i'd like to incorporate a manifold. I used sketch up to come up with a couple different designs and i'd like some feedback.

Separate Manifold:

Manifold Inline:

The separate manifold will cause me to use two pumps and I don't know if I want to right now or not. It's not a big deal but i'd like to get others opinions on it.

Thanks for any tips/input.

 

[shifty51008]

Just keep it simple and go with 1 pump. Thats how mine is also

 

[Ron Reefman]

There are pluses and minuses to either plan. One pump is easier to set up, but it means you need a bit bigger pump and if it's a pump that isn't readily available at the LFS, you should have some kind of back up on the shelf at home just in case the one in use fails (and they all do sooner or later). The other option of 2 pumps means smaller pumps, the 'spare' back up is cheaper and if/when one pump fails, your entire system doesn't shut down. It's more an issue of what's more important to you than one system being 'better' than the other. I've seen both designs be very successful.