First Hard Plumb: Looking for help

[TJAVOREK]

Hi Everyone, first time putting a manifold together and would love any opinions/comments:

Build Thread - Tye's AstoriaReef 350: Cycle Started

Hi everyone coming back to the hobby after about 15yrs away; back then had a down and dirty 55gallon reef tank with all HOB equipment. Recently purchased an apartment so was finally able to come back to the hobby without the fear of having to move the tank etc. Since a lot had changed in the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[dbowman5]

the questions i have are: 1. Are you valving the return to force water into your manifold or relying on the fact that it is below the DT to give it an advantage in flow to compensate for the back pressure that going through the manifold and reactors will cause? 2. Are you expecting to set up your return and forget it or are you anticipating frequent balancing adjustments. 3. what GPH rates are recommended for the (a)reactors and (b)UV, (c)what flow rate are you wanting for your return, and what flow will you get from the M2? 4. With the manifold fittings and valves what flow loss will you experience? the loop might reduce the flow loss by increasing the pipe volume.
My sump is in the basement and i have a Tee valved into my return for future manifold usage. I am using only half of my pump for return and can ramp that up for future needs. the bean animal seems to need the full siphon valve adjusted regularly as it is so the manifold will just be part of that balancing act when i add it. if either of your reactors will have a reduction in flow over time it will affect the other components, do you have any flow monitoring capability? big fun, eh?
i look forward to learning from your experiences!

 

[TJAVOREK]

the questions i have are: 1. Are you valving the return to force water into your manifold or relying on the fact that it is below the DT to give it an advantage in flow to compensate for the back pressure that going through the manifold and reactors will cause? 2. Are you expecting to set up your return and forget it or are you anticipating frequent balancing adjustments. 3. what GPH rates are recommended for the (a)reactors and (b)UV, (c)what flow rate are you wanting for your return, and what flow will you get from the M2? 4. With the manifold fittings and valves what flow loss will you experience? the loop might reduce the flow loss by increasing the pipe volume.
My sump is in the basement and i have a Tee valved into my return for future manifold usage. I am using only half of my pump for return and can ramp that up for future needs. the bean animal seems to need the full siphon valve adjusted regularly as it is so the manifold will just be part of that balancing act when i add it. if either of your reactors will have a reduction in flow over time it will affect the other components, do you have any flow monitoring capability? big fun, eh?
i look forward to learning from your experiences!

I have it set up for the ball valve teed off the return line to control the flow through the manifold. Reading through some threads it seems like if I set it up this way there will be frequent adjustments needed as the manifold will effect the return so I am considering separating the manifold from the return and running its own pump. The GPG are 400: UV, 200ish media reactors, and 800 suggested for the tank and the Vectra M2 is a max of 2000 GPH which is another reason I might go with a second pump. I dont have any flow meters in the build currently. Thoughts?

 

[Billdogg]

I've done it several ways over the years. Inline with the return works, but reduces flow to the tank, and any change to any of the ports changes all of them. Then I tried a single pump just for the manifold and although that works better, changing one still affects the others. I now use a separate small pump for each reactor, sized for the amount of flow it needs. Yes, there is a little more plumbing in the sump area, but with a little planning it can be easily routed to keep it out of the way.

 

[dbowman5]

I have it set up for the ball valve teed off the return line to control the flow through the manifold. Reading through some threads it seems like if I set it up this way there will be frequent adjustments needed as the manifold will effect the return so I am considering separating the manifold from the return and running its own pump. The GPG are 400: UV, 200ish media reactors, and 800 suggested for the tank and the Vectra M2 is a max of 2000 GPH which is another reason I might go with a second pump. I dont have any flow meters in the build currently. Thoughts?

what are you going to run in the reactors?

 

[dbowman5]

I've done it several ways over the years. Inline with the return works, but reduces flow to the tank, and any change to any of the ports changes all of them. Then I tried a single pump just for the manifold and although that works better, changing one still affects the others. I now use a separate small pump for each reactor, sized for the amount of flow it needs. Yes, there is a little more plumbing in the sump area, but with a little planning it can be easily routed to keep it out of the way.

this is a great solution if there is enough room in the sump.

 

[TJAVOREK]

what are you going to run in the reactors?

One with carbon and the other with GFO, and they can be swapped as I might switch one for a biopellet reactor

 

[TJAVOREK]

I've done it several ways over the years. Inline with the return works, but reduces flow to the tank, and any change to any of the ports changes all of them. Then I tried a single pump just for the manifold and although that works better, changing one still affects the others. I now use a separate small pump for each reactor, sized for the amount of flow it needs. Yes, there is a little more plumbing in the sump area, but with a little planning it can be easily routed to keep it out of the way.

Im not sure I would have enough room for three pumps as its already pretty tight in the sump.

 

[dbowman5]

those don't seem to plug up over time. my brain keeps returning to filters that lose flow over time as they filter better but lose flow.

 

[TJAVOREK]

those don't seem to plug up over time. my brain keeps returning to filters that lose flow over time as they filter better but lose flow.

Thanks, I think my main worry now is if the Vectra M2 can provide enough flow for the whole thing by itself