Under-sizing your return plumbing can have a negative effect! Do you have good return flow?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Did you know that "under-sizing" your return plumbing can have a negative effect because it restricts the return flow of water back into your aquarium?

Us non-plumber types tend to think of a water hose without a nozzle. What do you do if you want the water hose to spray a long distance and with more force? Kink it up a little right!? Well it doesn't really work that way with return plumbing. Your return pump will struggle with pushing more volume of water through the pvc and back into your reef tank. A return pump is not really designed to be a source of strong flow inside of your aquarium. If you want to get a more forceful spray back into your tank though you need to open the flow through the pvc and then use a specially designed return nozzle to do the rest.

Do you have problems with getting enough water flow from your return pump back in your display tank?

PLEASE SHOW US A PHOTO OF YOUR RETURN PLUMBING FROM YOUR PUMP!

image via @Firemanreefkeeper

 

[DeniseAndy]

I have been trying to fix this, but all the pumps I need are loud and mine is loud enough. I need to have at least 600-1000gph at 20ft. My 55Blueline has been running almost 20 years, but I tried hooking a 100 up and the noise was crazy.
I have seen a few hacks to quiet it, so when I am in the mood, I will try again.

 

[Jwise]

I have 1in pvc piping returning from a Ecotech Vectra s2 return pump that i actually had to dial down to 40 percent because it was pulling too much water out of the sump and was trying to run dry.

 

[Smite]

I thought my m2 vectra might not cut it for my 210g. I avoided barbed fittings and went with flex pvc. It only stepped down from 1” at the bulkhead of the return line. Insane amount of flow when it’s unrestricted like that. I’m running about 50% and everything is working great.

barbs kill flow, just compare pvc inside diameter to the barbed inside diameter and you can picture how much flow you’re killing.

 

[GillMeister]

I have plenty of return flow capability. My problem lies with the drain flow. If I crank my Varios 8 past 35% the noise from the drain pipe is unbearable.

 

[dstockwell]

I also have plenty of return flow. One inch line down to 3/4 loc-line @ 3 ft. DC pump running 32%

 

[Jwise]

I thought my m2 vectra might not cut it for my 210g. I avoided barbed fittings and went with flex pvc. It only stepped down from 1” at the bulkhead of the return line. Insane amount of flow when it’s unrestricted like that. I’m running about 50% and everything is working great.

barbs kill flow, just compare pvc inside diameter to the barbed inside diameter and you can picture how much flow you’re killing.

Yes it is ridiculous and my return pump is almost directly below where the return pvc is so its not to restricted theres only 5 90's on my pvc one to take the pvc out of the stand one to go up the side of the tank and three to get over the lip on top and out. I have a 125 gallon 6 ft aquarium btw so i know what your talking about thinking it wasn't going to be enough flow coming out of it at first so i had it at 80% and it almost drained my sump in like 20 seconds so i finally dialed it down until the water stayed where i needed it in the sump and it was at 40%.

 

[Sean Clark]

Theses are old pics but it is what I have available on my phone right now.
I have 1‐¼ returns on mine with eductors on the outlets. Package that with a huge pump and flow is not an issue.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I have plenty of return flow capability. My problem lies with the drain flow. If I crank my Varios 8 past 35% the noise from the drain pipe is unbearable.

Please post pics

 

[Pelagikos]

heck no!! I don't have a problem with too little flow!
I have a Waterbox all in one with a built-in sump in the back.
The Sicce pump that was sold with the aquarium is entirely too strong, even dialed back!
With a peninsula tank it's really hard to get just right, so I've tried so many different positions for my wave pumps, went with the next step down Sicce, eventually added an innovative Marine random flow nozzle and that helps a little.
I still feel everything gets blowing to one side from the return.

 

[Koh23]

Well, i always tought that return pipe diameter is related to drain pipe diameter.

And always, i follow guideline that i read (or maybe heard) somewhere, and it says -

1" for drain, and 3/4 for return.

5/4" for drain and 1" for return.

6/4" for drain and 5/4" for return.

2" for drain and 6/4 for return.

So, basicaly, return is one number smaller than drain pipe, of course, main factor for determining diameter is pump flow and lifting height, and do one have splitted outputs, manifolds, etc....

For me, pumps are bit on weak side, two pumps, 4000lph each, and with 3/4" return pipe, two 1" drain lines have no problem, even with stronger pumps, all i need to do is open valve bit more.....

 

[Nonya]

To me it's not the return flow. It's the flow within the tank. My sump/fuge/DSB has slow flow and does the job.

 

[design.maddie]

I had trouble finding a pump with low enough lph to fit my needs. I tend to shoot for about 5x turnover that puts me at about 1000lph. Tank is an AIO Red Sea Reefer 200XL and the return plumbing is simple and efficient soft tubing.

 

[o2manyfish]

I'm running a 1.5" return line off an Abyzz A200. I get 2900gph of flow from the Abyzz. The Abyzz is rated up to 4400gph.

I have (2) 1" returns tapped off for the frag tanks at about 700+GPH to each frag tank. And then the residual flow goes to the 750g display tank in the house. BT

he 1.5" line runs almost 65' with lots of sweeps as it goes around the house on the exterior, then underground, around a patio, back up from the ground, thru a wall into the house, up into the bottom of the tank (thru the overflow box) then up and over the overflow box and back into the tank.

Dave B

 

[Bob Escher]

I have an innovative marine 50 that has 3/4 return and two 1inch drains.
I believe that I don’t have enough flow but my COR 15 and it just doesn’t seem to push enough

 

[vlangel]

No, mine is just about right. My return pump is a Jabao DCT 6000 and it's in a basement sump. That meant I needed to deal with a loss of flow due to head pressure. I wanted the maximum flow that my Eshopps HOB overflow box could handle so air bubbles did not build up in the U tube of the overflow. As it turned out with the Jabao running at 100% it's perfect. Any more and a syphon would create a flushing noise in the drain. Any less and air bubbles would build up in the U tube so it is just right. I use a power head to add more water movement in the display.

 

[Jase4224]

I thought my m2 vectra might not cut it for my 210g. I avoided barbed fittings and went with flex pvc. It only stepped down from 1” at the bulkhead of the return line. Insane amount of flow when it’s unrestricted like that. I’m running about 50% and everything is working great.

barbs kill flow, just compare pvc inside diameter to the barbed inside diameter and you can picture how much flow you’re killing.

Totally true. So do unions and valves if you look inside they actually reduce the pipe diameter by quite a bit. Also the less elbows the better.. I swear some people use as many as possible and don’t consider the negative effects on flow and the pump.

 

[Sean Clark]

Totally true. So do unions and valves if you look inside they actually reduce the pipe diameter by quite a bit. Also the less elbows the better.. I swear some people use as many as possible and don’t consider the negative effects on flow and the pump.

This can be true. There are different styles of fittings out there. If you get what is called a "full port" fitting it will have the stated diameter all the way through the fitting. So a 1 inch "standard" ball valve vs. a 1 inch "full port" ball valve will have different flow rates. The full port valve will be larger and that will need to be taken into account for the given application.

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

I run Red Sea tanks with their plumbing set up and 3100 gph current eflux pumps. I can’t run them at 100% or the overflow can’t keep up.

 

[Mark Gray]

I decided on 2 return pumps I have 2 Cor20s running on my 90 gallon. I have good water turn over and if 1 failed the other can keep up easily. I started it with 2 Cor15s both failed.