Return pump manifold

[AZ Burns]

Hello,

I am setting up a freshwater tropheus tank, plumbed through a wall into a sump in the adjacent utility room. I am thinking of building a PVC manifold to run the wet dry bio filter off of the return pump, and possibly a purigen reactor in the future.

I have been reading up on manifolds, and looking at pictures and diagrams of other people, but it seems like everyone has a slightly different goal with theirs so it becomes difficult to see which parts are essential.

Here is a diagram of my current idea.

My understanding is that I can open the valves to the bio filter until it has the amount of flow I want to it and then, if there is too much flow to the display tank, I can open the last line to redirect some flow to the sump to reduce flow to the main display. Is this correct, or do I need a valve in the line to the display tank after the manifold as well?

Thank you,
AZ

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

When I ran a wet dry all the water ran back to the filter.
There is nothing wrong with your concept of a manifold.
However, depending on the size of the tank the pump "could be" on the small size.
One thing sure to help is putting the sump off the floor, reduces head pressure & back pains.

 

[slief]

I would put a valve between the manifold and the display tank. I would also use gate valves instead of ball valves so you have finer control over your flow. This is especially important with reactor media which fine control over the flow is critical You can certainly open the last line on the manifold and have it return to the sump if you have too much flow but a simple gate valve between the manifold and display tank will accomplish the same thing and if you are using an AC pump, it might even reduce the power consumption. Many AC Pumps use less power as the head pressure increases so with some pumps, gating it down to reduce flow to the display can have it's advantages.

Also, as Vinny noted, the Eheim 1262 may be on the small side depending on your display volume and reactor needs. It is a great pump though!

 

[AZ Burns]

Thank you for the replies.

The display tank is a 75 gallon, and the sump is a 55. Since the sump is in the corner of a utility room, with nothing above it, I can put it at whatever height will allow enough gravity to keep a good flow through a bean animal style overflow.

Is there a minimum height difference between a bean animal overflow and the water level of the sump?

AZ

 

[Rarewon]

A little off the subject. Which tropheus are you getting? I have 20 tropheus kasanga red rainbow in the 130g tank & running a wet/dry, return pump 1110 GPH with 2 tunze. Never mind... I know who you are from the other forum....

 

[AZ Burns]

I drew up a rough plan for how I see the sump being laid out. It is roughly to scale, I didn't download blocks or look up dimensions on fittings.

I noted the important fittings, valves, unions, etc. I see this as a minimal design, and am very open to feedback about more unions, different valves, or anything else.

As the design stands now, there is a pump head of 3'-3". I will be using 1-1/2" PVC for the return to minimize loss to friction, and I am pretty sure I can use a gradual sweep fitting for the first ninety degree turn.

Any suggestions whether the Eheim 1262 would be sufficient, or if I should go to something bigger?

I was looking at the Mag Drive 12. I read that they do make some noise, but this will be in the adjacent room, so noise shouldn't be a concern so long as it isn't horridly loud.

Thank you,
AZ

 

[AZ Burns]

I should have said that I don't forsee needing more than 750 gph to the display tank and, really, around 400 will probably be fine. I would think 400 gph would be fine to the wet dry as well, and maybe less. The purigen reactor I will be adding will have a very slow flow rate, probably 100 gph or less.

Thanks,
AZ

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Mag pumps add heat, just so you know.
The 1262 has a 3/4 hose barb outlet.
I see no reason to use 1.5" pipe with such a low flow.
Using 1" would be more than sufficient.

 

[slief]

That looks great! My only advice would be to add a couple extra connections with gate valves on your manifold in case you decide to add additional reactors down the line for things like GFO and Carbon. You may very well appreciate having those in place down the line. Especially given the time and expense to create a nice manifold.

As noted above, Mag pumps add heat which isn't always ideal. A pump like a Fluval SP4 would be a great alternative that is silent and damn near bullet proof and they add next to no heat.

On the subject of running larger than needed return pipe, there is one advantage and that is that you reduce friction losses which result in more available flow. Your manifold will have several fittings on it which will add to friction losses as will any elbows and reducers. I always oversize my return plumbing going up to the display to help reduce those losses in an effort to reduce total head loss. I then reduce them down to the output size of the plumbing at the display itself. The Fluval SP4 has a 1" output so if it were me, I would up-size the plumbing coming out of the pump using a 1.25" union ball valve at the very least and 1.5" if space permits. The manifold would use 1.25" or 1.5" T's with the reactor outputs reduced down to 3/4" or whatever size needed but I would plumb the return line all the way to the tank with the 1.25" or 1.5" and just reduce the reactor side of the manifolds down to 3/4" and use 3/4" gate valves. If any further reductions were needed for reactors, I would do it at the output side of gate valve or use 1/2" gate valves depending on what they are feeding.

The result of over sizing your return plumbing will reduce total head loss by a couple feet or more.

 

[AZ Burns]

Thank slief,

Glad to hear you think the 1-1/2" returns lines will be worth while, since I kind of already bought all the fittings and valves.

I also may upgrade to a larger tank a few years down the road. I figure having a union on each of the beananimal pipes will make it pretty easy to hook a new tank up if it is drilled in the same configuration. At that point, having the capacity for more flow will definitely be good.