Question on building a Water Return Manifold

[Mickey]

I am planning a new tank around 225 gallons and I think the manifold that Tony Calfo described in the Short Takes column in the September issue of Advanced Aquarist may be a good idea for me. Tank I'm thinking about is 72 long x 30 wide by 24 deep. I was thinking about closed loops as I prefer to avoid powerheads if possible. The manifold idea seems even better if I can figure out how to set it up and pull it off.

On a 6ft tank, should there be two separate "squares" of PVC rather than the one depicted in the article? If yes, should each cover half the tank, or should they be run in parallel. Or even four smaller ones run by two pumps to spread the flow all across the tank.

Would this method get flow all the way, or at least most of the way to the bottom of the tank? What if I increased the depth of the tank to 28" or so?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[liquid]

Honestly I think any of those scenarios would work fine. Do you want 1 pump or 2 running. If 2, you could do 2 separate manifolds. If 1, then do one. The big thing to keep in mind getting an accurate idea of what your head loss will be going w/ each design. Head over to http://www.reefs.org/library/pumps and use the Excel spreadsheet to calc what your head loss will be with each manifold setup and see where that puts you.

Shane

 

[GLD]

even if you use only one pump, consider running two pipes from your pump up to your manifold. Then install two valves in the middle of your manifold (one between where your two pipes join the manifold and the other across the tank from the first valve) which effectively will enable you to have two seperate manifolds if and when you want that.

 

[Mickey]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am still trying to figure out how to make this work -- plumbing is not my forte.

Anyway, tank will be plumbed to a sump in the basement and I was originally going to include a closed loop until this came up. So at minimum there will be a pump in the basement pumping up about 12 feet, and another pump under the stand running either a closed loop. I want at least two pumps for backup in case of failure, but I could do with one big one in the basement and two smaller ones under the stand, these would have to be quiet as it is my family/TV room.

So, sounds like this manifold idea will work, but is it better than two return pumps and one or two closed loop pumps?

Mickey