What size plumbing should I go with?

[JB33t]

I’m setting up a 25g SPS tank and doing hard plumbing, looking for around 500-700 gph. Not sure if I should go 1 1/4” for drain pipe and 3/4” for return. Would any one give me any input and what they recommend on pipe size.

 

[Snoopy 67]

How Much Water Can Flow Through A Pipe (GPM/GPH)?

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[JB33t]

Thank you, by that chart maybe 3/4” and 1 1/4” is unnecessarily big

 

[DC Reefer]

I’m setting up a 25g SPS tank and doing hard plumbing, looking for around 500-700 gph. Not sure if I should go 1 1/4” for drain pipe and 3/4” for return. Would any one give me any input and what they recommend on pipe size.

is the tank drilled and have an overflow already. I think the overflow may be your limiting factor on getting that much flow through the display.

 

[DC Reefer]

Thank you, by that chart maybe 3/4” and 1 1/4” is unnecessarily big

the drain will be gravity/low pressure and per the chart is 660 GPH. If you are going to have 500+ GPH through the system I would use 1" for the drain.

 

[JB33t]

is the tank drilled and have an overflow already. I think the overflow may be your limiting factor on getting that much flow through the display.

Drilling hasn’t happened yet I bought a overflow box that is so called rated for 1000 gph

 

[SeaJay]

Thank you, by that chart maybe 3/4” and 1 1/4” is unnecessarily big

My 135 has a 1-1/4 pipe feeding two 3/4” returns and two 1” drains. 500gph is way too much for a 25. I’d shoot for 150 max.

 

[JB33t]

My 135 has a 1-1/4 pipe feeding two 3/4” returns and two 1” drains. 500gph is way too much for a 25. I’d shoot for 150 max.

Even for full SPS?

 

[SeaJay]

Even for full SPS?

That’s 24x turnover through the sump. I don’t think the sump would be very effective at that rate. Then add your wavemaker flow. I‘ve never heard of anybody running anything that high, but maybe I just don’t know about extreme sps’ing.

 

[DC Reefer]

Even for full S

That’s 24x turnover through the sump. Then add your wavemaker flow. I‘ve never heard of anybody running anything that high,

Agree - you can go pretty low on the turnover through the pump. I ran 300gph through my 155 SPS tank without any issue. for flow is use 4 MP40s and 2 gyre 350s. Going lower on the flow through the sump will also help with keeping the heat down as you can run a smaller return pump.

 

[JB33t]

Well, kind of already ordered the return pump dont really want to return it however I will if I have to. The return pumps minimum I believe is around 450gph. Would there be any issues that I could run into besides heat for such a high turn over?

 

[JB33t]

That’s 24x turnover through the sump. I don’t think the sump would be very effective at that rate. Then add your wavemaker flow. I‘ve never heard of anybody running anything that high, but maybe I just don’t know about extreme sps’ing.

I will definitely take into account your input thank you

 

[SeaJay]

Well, kind of already ordered the return pump dont really want to return it however I will if I have to. The return pumps minimum I believe is around 450gph. Would there be any issues that I could run into besides heat for such a high turn over?

You can always put in a gate valve to turn it down some. Not sure how much you can restrict before it’s harmful to the pump, but I’m sure you can dial it back quite a bit before that would be a concern. Too much pump is a better problem than not enough in most cases.

 

[JB33t]

You can always put in a gate valve to turn it down some. Not sure how much you can restrict before it’s harmful to the pump, but I’m sure you can dial it back quite a bit before that would be a concern. Too much pump is a better problem than not enough in most cases.

Good idea, and yes I agree that’s why I decided to go big but I definitely did go too big. Maybe it gives me a chance to add on a display fuge or frag tank...

 

[theMeat]

Most people go with 3-6 times display tank volume per hour through sump. On a smaller tank, like yours, 10x is fine. Any more than that and your simply moving way more water with no added benefit, but your pump will be bigger, therefore making more heat.
For added circulation in tank use wavemakers/circulation pumps.

For drain... if it’s a single drain system it won’t be silent, but the less water you have going diwn pipe the quieter it will be. 1” should be plenty

 

[SeaJay]

Most people go with 3-6 times display tank volume per hour through sump. On a smaller tank, like yours, 10x is fine. Any more than that and your simply moving way more water with no added benefit, but your pump will be bigger, therefore making more heat.
For added circulation in tank use wavemakers/circulation pumps.

For drain... if it’s a single drain system it won’t be silent, but the less water you have going diwn pipe the quieter it will be. 1” should be plenty

Yes, I think Triton recommends no more than 10x turnover through their sumps.

 

[SeaJay]

Good idea, and yes I agree that’s why I decided to go big but I definitely did go too big. Maybe it gives me a chance to add on a display fuge or frag tank...

One good thing about having that big pump is that if you want to build a small manifold and direct part of that flow through a fuge, reactor or uv sterilizer you can do that.

 

[JB33t]

One good thing about having that big pump is that if you want to build a small manifold and direct part of that flow through a fuge, reactor or uv sterilizer you can do that.

Yep I’m going to return the pump for something that I can dim down lower, and add a few manifolds.