Is my return pump going to be too powerful?

[Harris3005]

When I first started reefing a lot of people told me that a 1 inch drain would only handle 650 to 700 GPH. I also saw that number posted on a lot of the forums. I don't know what nudnik decided to be cute and throw those stupid numbers around but they are totally false and a plague to this hobby. I have a single one inch drain and a 1 inch emergency drain, my ecotech l1 has 1 45° bend going up 2ft directly into my return. The single one inch drain pipe handles it with no problem and that's with multiple 90° bends.

Yeah that's where my concern was coming from I was seeing a lot of people saying those type of figures on forums, particularly ones over here in the UK. Thanks very much for the reply!

 

[George Lopez]

Why don't you use the 1" drain for the emergency overflow and the 1 1/2" drain for your main overflow

This is what i'd do.

 

[DMan]

I use a Waveline 10000gen2 that I run full out with a couple of bends. My drains are 1" full siphon drain that sit a few inches below the water line. My emergency drain is 1.5 with no restriction. (Never restrict an erg.). Even running my pump on full I still need to close the valve on the 1" to get a full siphon. You won't be getting anywhere near the 1400 gph min of that pump. And besides for safety sake you want your emergency drain to handle your pump at full power with your siphon completely closed off. This is a worst case scenario (unless your emergency also happens to clog). This is why you don't want that 1" as your emergency. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Check out this info on Herbie and Bean style overflows.
http://gmacreef.com/herbie-dual-overflows/

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

I'm hoping that if I can get a herbie like set up using either of the holes I should get it pretty quiet?

I really like the idea of the nozzles on the outlet for a more varied flow. I'm going to try and work out how I could do this now!

Thanks.

Based on the pic I saw, I'd go straight down into the DT with your return. Then I would install three "knuckled" pieces of PVC that you could easily re-direct from time to time. Given you Herbie return system, that would allow you to force water into the deeper parts of the tank. Remember ... if you're not stirring up the gravel, you ain't moving enough water.

 

[BigJohnny]

just put a gate valve above your return pump and throttle it down if necessary, same effect as adding head pressure from more pipe/distance. That's what i did.