Water Return Manifold

[miguel242]

As the fall semester winds down I typically get a week or two before the holiday break where I have some free time to enjoy messing with my tanks!!!!! Yay! Any how I recently picked up a used 125 gal and decided to put a water return manifold instead of relying on power heads for water movement. Anyone have any experiences with these? I am using a 1" return pipe that is reduced to a 1/2" rectangular manifold that goes along the top of the tank. In total there are eight outlets on the manifold. Any suggestions as to what pump I should use to handle that with about a 6' from sump to the manifold... I was thinking something along the lines of mag 18 (1800GPH) and at ~6' with the planned plumbing I expect around 970 GPH. Would this do or need I something more powerful? Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[levon15]

Do you live in the new Cochran Gardens? Downtown? Just asking, the company I work for did some work on the project. I havent been inside of one of the units finished. I was only down there a bit last winter. Hmm.

What are you using for outlets and do you have any pics of the 1/2" rectangular manifold?

 

[miguel242]

No, I don't actually live in the "New Cochran Gardens" I live in the building that is called Neighborhood Gardens. It's a historic building that been recently renovated which also near the "new gardens". Any who, I will try to get some pics up sometime tomorrow, but as for the outlets they are 1/2" tees with a pvc nipple-like deal with a nozzle at the end. I know a pic would really help, but I think I will really have to up the GPH for this one.

 

[miguel242]

Ok, change of plan perhaps this may elicit some more responses!
Ok, so I decided it against using water from the sump for the manifold. Instead I will use a dolphin reef dart not too far from where I plan on drilling for an intake (~4-5 below the top of the tank) so that there will be as little head loss as possible. So I will have 8 0.5" outlets..... If I read the very hard to follow webwetmedia faqs I am needing 300-400 (I believe) per nozzle. So if I am getting around 3200 GPH 3200/8 = 400 per nozzle. I will also place a ball valve to control the output just in case the flow is too strong. Also instead of using 0.5" for the manifold I will be switching to 1". So, it looks as if I will have to start over.... Let me know of any suggestions or anyone's input that may be helpful.