Return flow and aquascaping

Devilish

Devilish

AC Members
Jun 8, 2007
82
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0
Northeast NJ
I am getting ready to setup my tank. It is a 40g XH. The measurements are 30"L x 24"H x 12"W; tall and narrow. In order to ensure good flow I came up with the idea to incorporate my return flow from my sump into the PVC racks that I will be using to attach my rock to. The plan is to drill holes throughout the pvc then cap one end and attach end on the bottom of thank to the return from my fuge, thus creating a flow from within my rock. Is this a sound plan? The reason I am thinking of going with this is to help create a nice even flow throughout being such a narrow but tall tank. As far as the 'scaping, I was going to make a couple pillars with a ledge or two and a small cave or such. Any foreseeable problems that may have escaped me let me know. Thanks in advance.
 
I was going to use a Quiet 1 4000. It is rated at a touch over 1000 gph and and up to 10 ft/head. It will be traveling approx. 4' up and then down into the tank floor and spread out from there.
 
In all honestly, you are not going to be getting much flow through the pipes really unless you have a real strong pump for this....Of course to have a powerfull pump as the return, the overflows of the display tank need to match the return pump value...

Its not just the head height for the pump, its all the bends etc on the internal pipework that you have to take into account..by the time you have worked it all out with the height from sump to tank vertical, all horizontal runs, 90 deg / 45 deg bends, ball valves etc etc, it soon knocks that 1000gph down...i would estimate, you will get about 440 - 450gph output from the return pump in actual water gph flow...

Try using the following calculator to work out exactly..

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

Hope that helps

Niko
 
Agree with Niko, about the friction loss. Also, if you do end up doing this, I wouldn't cap one end, supply both sides of the spray bar with the return pump. You will get more even flow out of the spray bar, with capping one end it is like a hose with holes in it, holes closest to source have more pressure, and it decreases as you go down the line. I would suggest a dry run with just fresh water and nothing in the tank to make sure it is flowing enough for you, before having yourself set on this. The idea is good and has been done many times(myself included), you just need a strong enough pump to do it all. Also, I would use the largest piping you can, then reduce before going into the tank, will help a little with friction loss. Good luck, keep us posted.
Matt
 
this is my quiet one 4000 pump on 75 gallon/20Lsump

Total losses are 1.96 feet of head pressure, or 0.85 PSI. with a flow rate of 884 GPH. Process took 110 iterations.
 
Thanks for the input. I may still go ahead with it, but try to upgrade on the return pump. I guess I'll have to do a dry run with just the pvc to see exactly how much head press. will total up to and then go from there. Thanks again.
 
i agree you won't be getting much flow once you add in all pipework inside the tank. and i would think that over time the little holes would clog or get covered.
 
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