Pics of my new 190g plumbing!
- Thread starter King Jason
- Start date
Jason....
Awesome setup. I have a few questions about supplies.
1. What are the strainers used for that are on the end of the inputs? Where did you get them?
2. Is that "spider valve" a home depot item? What do you call the flexi pipe that is between the spider and the pvc?
Thanks
Awesome setup. I have a few questions about supplies.
1. What are the strainers used for that are on the end of the inputs? Where did you get them?
2. Is that "spider valve" a home depot item? What do you call the flexi pipe that is between the spider and the pvc?
Thanks
wetone":3rcyk6ck said:
1. The strainers are the inputs for the closed loop. So water will be going into those two pipes. The strainers are to keep my fish/other stuff floating around out of my pipes and pump. Here is a link http://www.aquaticeco.com/aquatic1v1/it ... temid=8972
2. The spider value came from Marine Depot. It is an accessory for the Ampmaster pumps. I got the flex PVC from Savco (http://www.savko.com/)
Have you actually tested the closed loop w/ water in the tank/sump? I'm curious to see what your flow is like on that closed loop.
Not to put a damper on anything, but if it were me, I would have foregone using a spider valve and instead I would have plumbed one line up from the center-back of the tank to the lip of the tank from the Ampmaster 3000 using 1.5" PVC pipe and tee'd a 1.5" pipe running left and right from that central point. I would have then plumbed those 6 return lines off this main line and installed gate valves on them. The Ampmaster 3000 is not a pressure rated pump and loses flow rather quickly (max head for Amp3000 is 17.5' head). If it were me, I would have chosen a different pump (most likely a Sequence pump, but that's me.)
The way it is currently setup, you are pushing a lot of water thru a lot of small diameter pipe and you are probably going to see a lot of flow loss. My rough calculations suggest that you're going to see about 13' to 15' of total dynamic head if that's 3/4" or 1" pipe coming out of the spider valve. At that amount of pressure, you're looking at most at about 700-900 gph of total *net* flow (if you're lucky) from your closed loop, which isn't very good (this is the flow of all 6 ports *combined*). I hope I am wrong tho. Please keep us informed about your progress.
fwiw,
Shane
Not to put a damper on anything, but if it were me, I would have foregone using a spider valve and instead I would have plumbed one line up from the center-back of the tank to the lip of the tank from the Ampmaster 3000 using 1.5" PVC pipe and tee'd a 1.5" pipe running left and right from that central point. I would have then plumbed those 6 return lines off this main line and installed gate valves on them. The Ampmaster 3000 is not a pressure rated pump and loses flow rather quickly (max head for Amp3000 is 17.5' head). If it were me, I would have chosen a different pump (most likely a Sequence pump, but that's me.)
The way it is currently setup, you are pushing a lot of water thru a lot of small diameter pipe and you are probably going to see a lot of flow loss. My rough calculations suggest that you're going to see about 13' to 15' of total dynamic head if that's 3/4" or 1" pipe coming out of the spider valve. At that amount of pressure, you're looking at most at about 700-900 gph of total *net* flow (if you're lucky) from your closed loop, which isn't very good (this is the flow of all 6 ports *combined*). I hope I am wrong tho. Please keep us informed about your progress.
fwiw,
Shane
I did test it for a short while (because I found a small leak) and I had A LOT of flow! I didn't expect it to be as much as it was (sprayed water everywhere because I didn't have the tank full). I also have the AmpMaster 2100 which goes to 2 1" pipes and that puts out a ton of flow also. I wish I had some way to easily rate how much the two pumps are pushing.
If I were to do this again, I would have done what you suggested. The ½ inch piping is rather flimsy and can bend a bit. So I had to secure the piping going up the back of the tank really tight.
If I were to do this again, I would have done what you suggested. The ½ inch piping is rather flimsy and can bend a bit. So I had to secure the piping going up the back of the tank really tight.
SWEET! I just talked to Jeff at Jeff's Exotic Fish and he said he can drill my holes!!! Whoohoo...I wasn't going to have it done basically because I couldn't find anyone to do it. Since he will do it I'm going to take a risk. Everyone cross your fingers!
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