Some plumbing help/ideas needed. Let's see yours.
- Thread starter DarkSoul
- Start date
Some street elbows solved my height issue, they made the entire unit about 1" shorter which gives me a little bit of clearance.
I think I'm onto something now!
It's evolved a fair bit since the original pictures, but the creative use of street elbows saved me just enough height for this to fit in my stand, and allow for the use of valving proper.
The left hand side will be used for the cerges reactor, where it will cycle through the reactor and then back into the piping so that all of the water is heated and I don't have any unheated water going back to the tank (not that heating should be a problem really)
I'll also be able to divert as much or as little flow through the reactor as possible.
Also included is a full bypass to let water flow straight through and back out if necessary.
It's evolved a fair bit since the original pictures, but the creative use of street elbows saved me just enough height for this to fit in my stand, and allow for the use of valving proper.
The left hand side will be used for the cerges reactor, where it will cycle through the reactor and then back into the piping so that all of the water is heated and I don't have any unheated water going back to the tank (not that heating should be a problem really)
I'll also be able to divert as much or as little flow through the reactor as possible.
Also included is a full bypass to let water flow straight through and back out if necessary.
I have done all rigid plumbing in the past and it conducts a lot more noise than including some vinyl tubing. It basically turned my entire enclosed wooden stand into a soundbox like a guitar or violin. It doesn't look nearly as tidy as your system but it is a ton quieter and allows for a lot more flexibility as far as fitting things into spaces. It's easy to go from vinyl to PVC and back and still allows for modular systems with valves to replace individual components. I solve the problem of water friction and reduced capacity by using larger diameter tubing and piping than the pump requires. You also get improved gph by avoiding all hard angles (which it looks like you have already done). For example, if the pump has 5/8" in and outputs I'll immediately convert to a 3/4" system before and after the pump so the pump is the bottleneck. Good luck!
Why is it louder I wonder?
I'm less worried about slowing the flow now since I'm going to run the manifold separately from the FX6. I'm going to use a 1.5"x3/4"x3/4" straight wye to split the intake though, so the FX6 and the manifold will share the same inlet and hopefully not fight each other.
Since it'll have water being pulled through by a 594GPH pump, that should allow for plenty of turnover even with whatever restrictions the manifold has.
It is louder because the rigid piping transmits vibrations from the pump to everything they touch. Vinyl tubing is soft enough that a lot of the vibration stops. I had the stand against the wall and a pipe touching the wall behind the stand. The entire wall hummed most annoyingly.
Oh right. I kind of overlooked that tbh. Hopefully the EcoPlus is quiet. My stand isn't touching my wall though, and my walls are old and made of gypsum lathe and plaster, they're nearly cement which may be better or worse lol.
I still haven't figured out how to mount this behemoth yet anyway, I'll have to assemble it first and hopefully I can get the pieces glued together nice and square, and get my pipe length measurements right.
I'm going to be really peeved if I end up with something out of square
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Awwwwww yeah!! My filter housing arrived today for the Cerges-style reactor. Since I already had the UGF tube and the Eheim Installation Kit intake strainer I was easily able to assemble it, and 3/4" fittings means lots of flow 
I'll pull out the "pressure relief valve" and use that to feed CO2 into the reactor.
I will no longer be able to fit a 20 gallon quarantine tank in the stand though
I'll pull out the "pressure relief valve" and use that to feed CO2 into the reactor.
I will no longer be able to fit a 20 gallon quarantine tank in the stand though
Loving it! It's so neat and organized! My projects start out that way but never quite end that way. lol
With my very limited knowledge of cerges reactors isn't that a lot of flow to push through that small filter housing? I see the 20" ones usually recommended for high flow rates. And then with that tall strainer in there it is a very short distance before any bubbles would be able to exit out the housing. I am working on my first closed loop cerges myself as we speak so I'm trying to understand your methods.
And again, limited knowledge, isn't it better to send positive pressure though the manifold then pulling negative pressure? Have the pump before the manifold vs after. In my research it always says to never inhibit the flow into a pump, always put any head or back pressure after them pump.
With my very limited knowledge of cerges reactors isn't that a lot of flow to push through that small filter housing? I see the 20" ones usually recommended for high flow rates. And then with that tall strainer in there it is a very short distance before any bubbles would be able to exit out the housing. I am working on my first closed loop cerges myself as we speak so I'm trying to understand your methods.
And again, limited knowledge, isn't it better to send positive pressure though the manifold then pulling negative pressure? Have the pump before the manifold vs after. In my research it always says to never inhibit the flow into a pump, always put any head or back pressure after them pump.
