drilling for a closed loop

B

Billy_bob76114

May be a stupid question but here goes. When drilling your tank to put on a closed loop, does your intake need to be bigger than your output?
 
On my CL, I have one 2" intake and four 1" returns. I've seen some that have two intakes for their closed loop.

The reasoning behind this is depending on your CL pump, you don't want the suction action to be too strong where it may endanger your livestock. Having a larger intake or several will disperse the suction, making it safer for inhabitants that cruise by your intake.

What pump were you thinking about running and on what size tank?
 
I use a single 2" bulkhead on a 1200gph pump with a 1" output (that quickly goes to 1.5" pvc) and you can feel almost no suction on the intake screen. Doing it again, I will go with 2, 1.5" drains I think, from opposite sides of the tank.
 
It doesn't necessarily need to be bigger, but I'd at least ensure that it's double the size of the pump intake. The area you have for intake, the less suction you'll have. Also, you want to make sure you don't starve the pump of water. I've talked to the Dolphin engineers, and they say that restricting the output of these types of pumps won't harm them at all; restricting the input, however, can burn a pump up.
 
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