I am torn on which return pump to use on my new system. I was going to go external and use a Dart, which would be PLENTY, but I do not have room to make that work. So, I need to find an Internal Pump that fulfills my needs and thought I would ask you fine folks.
Here is a list of what this pump (s) is going to have to feed:
120 gallon Display tank with TWO 1” returns.
29 gallon frag tank located directly behind the tank
1/4hp Chiller located in garage directly behind tank
2 Media Reactors
**Possibly an additional “T” off the main to help with Water Changes, but not sure yet.**
I plan on using 1” PVC on almost everything. I thought I might use ¾” on the T up to the frag tank and also for the media reactors. By my best guess I’m looking at approximately 16 ft of PVC that water must travel through with about 3-4 ft of that being vertical up to the tank.
Option 1: ONE Pump. Design a manifold that will “T” off to 3 different areas: 1) To Chiller (secondary “T” off of this line to frag tank as the main feed to the chiller would pass right under the frag tank); 2) To reactors; 3) To one Main Tank Return. The output of the Chiller would travel back and straight up to the second return of the Main Tank.
Option 2: TWO Pumps. One specifically for the chiller that would only turn on when the AC3 tells it to. The output of the chiller would dump back into the sump or up into the main display via a hang on return…as long as the drains could handle the additional volume. Second pump would run a manifold with 3 “T’s” as well. One T to the frag tank….one T to the reactors…one T to the 2 returns…
So, which option would you choose and which pump would you recommend? Feel free to recommend an entirely different option. This is my first real shot at plumbing a large tank…so I’m a little wide eyed right now. The pumps I have access to are (2) Mag 7; (1) Eheim 1262; (1) Quiet One 5000; (1) Quiet One 4000. I’m not sure any of these are strong enough to run everything….but I could be wrong as I am not real comfortable with head loss and how much flow it will take away.
Thanks.
Here is a list of what this pump (s) is going to have to feed:
120 gallon Display tank with TWO 1” returns.
29 gallon frag tank located directly behind the tank
1/4hp Chiller located in garage directly behind tank
2 Media Reactors
**Possibly an additional “T” off the main to help with Water Changes, but not sure yet.**
I plan on using 1” PVC on almost everything. I thought I might use ¾” on the T up to the frag tank and also for the media reactors. By my best guess I’m looking at approximately 16 ft of PVC that water must travel through with about 3-4 ft of that being vertical up to the tank.
Option 1: ONE Pump. Design a manifold that will “T” off to 3 different areas: 1) To Chiller (secondary “T” off of this line to frag tank as the main feed to the chiller would pass right under the frag tank); 2) To reactors; 3) To one Main Tank Return. The output of the Chiller would travel back and straight up to the second return of the Main Tank.
Option 2: TWO Pumps. One specifically for the chiller that would only turn on when the AC3 tells it to. The output of the chiller would dump back into the sump or up into the main display via a hang on return…as long as the drains could handle the additional volume. Second pump would run a manifold with 3 “T’s” as well. One T to the frag tank….one T to the reactors…one T to the 2 returns…
So, which option would you choose and which pump would you recommend? Feel free to recommend an entirely different option. This is my first real shot at plumbing a large tank…so I’m a little wide eyed right now. The pumps I have access to are (2) Mag 7; (1) Eheim 1262; (1) Quiet One 5000; (1) Quiet One 4000. I’m not sure any of these are strong enough to run everything….but I could be wrong as I am not real comfortable with head loss and how much flow it will take away.
Thanks.