Planning the plumbing for my return line

Lou Raffael · Oct 13, 2016

Hi everyone, I'm new to the hobby and have been working on getting my tank up and running since April. Trying to take my time and do things right the first time plus I've had some delays. I'm finally about to plumb the tank with PVC. I have a 90 gallon reef tank drilled with an overflow out the back to an icecap sump. My question is I've seen a lot of tanks where the plumbing from the return pump has a horizontal pipe that is there to feed additional items for the future (Reactors, and I'm not exactly sure what else) I want to be as prepared a s possible and do this right the first time around. I wanted to attach a print screen from the BRS160 week 5 video which is what I'm trying to mimick in a smaller scale but I'm not sure how. My return is an Eheim compact 5000 that does 600 - 1300 gph which doesn't seem like enough to push through 2-3' of horizontal piping then 3-4' up to the tank and keep up with the overflow. Any help, suggestions, pictures and or diagrams would be very much appreciated.
Thanks everyone

cromag27 · Oct 13, 2016

You might be referring to a manifold. I never use them. change flow on one device and it changes the flow on everything else. usually, you need very large pumps when running a manifold, depending on what you're powering.

Starwar · Oct 14, 2016

Its actually very easy to do and doesnt require a huge pump depending on what you run. I also have a 90 gallon reef ready with a 1100gph return. I ran my manifold up so i could attach and support the weight to the roof of the stand. I run a brs carbon reactor right now but as u can see, i left room for expansion.

The carbon doesnt really need a lot of flow. And i found my return pump was overkill for my 90 gallon. Flow rate was too high in the sump. So you should have more than enough pressure. If you have questions about pipe fittings, let me know.

Oh, and i used threaded fittings on the manifold so i could change it later if needed.

Lou Raffael · Oct 14, 2016

This is a great help! Thank you. This is what I'm looking to do

MmmmBalf · Oct 15, 2016

I'm no plumbing expert, like you, this is my first time, but here is what I did. It's similar to Starwar's, only in a straight line & without any reactor hooked up yet. I just tee'd off the return and tapped it, for future use.