Please help me plumb my new Sequence Snapper. 40 gallon AGA

[NanoReefer411]

Hello everyone. I am starting a new thread. I need some advice for plumbing my new Sequence Snapper. I have a 1 in bulkhead intake. Now people have suggested drilling another 1 in bh hole to increase the size up to 2 in by connecting them together somehow. My return lines are 3/4in. I will be going from 1.5in down to 3/4in for returns. I have some pictures of what I have so far. This is a 40 gallon breeder All Glass Aquarium. I don't know if I drilled another hole, if this would possibly cause strength problems in my aquarium. Another possibility would be to drill a hole of 1.5 in and get a different bulkhead then size up the plumbing to 2 in. I will have 90 degree plumbing so I just needed help with flow. My return from my sump is pumping 600 gph. This is going to be an LPS and SPS tank. Clams in low flow areas. Thank you all. I'd appreciate your advice.

 

[WA coral]

so is this a closed loop or just a sump return? My friend just got done with his 50 breeder and he used approx 800gph pump just for sump return which was plenty of flow for the whole system.. He used a 1.5 drain to the sump a 1inch sump intake to 2 3/4 inch out flows and then used a locline 2 split so it gives him 4 directional flow evenly spread seems to work great and is an easy setup. the pump in and out diamiter will dictate flow so alot of times upgrading the size of pipe for a return is not worth it. I know with a closed loop I always try to make the numbers match like 2 1.5 inch intakes for 4 3/4 inch out flows. I will ussally try to use the pump in and out diamater for the manifold for the out and reduce pipe size after flow is split.

 

[NanoReefer411]

Hi,
No this will be for my closed loop. Should I go with a bigger bulkhead? 1.5 in bulkhead? Chris from Reeflo said to just leave the 1 in bulkhead I have, then get an adapter to go up to 1.5 in or even 2 in for the intake. Then for the out take I have 3 splits. One going to my sea swirl then another going to loc line which is then split 2 times. I will have a lot of 90 degree plumbing goin on and also some t'd. Someone told me for every 90 degree fixture there is about a foot of head loss. Reducing the GPH. This will be an LPS and SPS tank. I just want to know I will have a strong enough flow for my future SPS. I know I will for LPS, I am just not sure about the SPS. Let me know what you think. Everyone help a girl out. I've had some major problems getting this tank just up and running! Thank you.

 

[WA coral]

What kind of gph rating do you have after head loss? if the pump is 600 gph before head loss and you will have split it into 6 outlets after the locline there will be less than 100 gph coming out of each outlet which is not very much. If the pump is 600 gph after head loss than you will have approx 100+ gph x6 which still is not much. I would say do the math on head loss first as a worst case loss and then do the math after all of the splits and see what you have for gph, you may want to reduce the # of out flows. Are you running a sump return? if so what kind of flow are you getting there? I would think 4 outflows even for sps in a 40 would be plenty.

 

[NanoReefer411]

I am not sure how many gph I will have after head loss. I don't know how to figure out how much it will lessen with the 90 degree plumbing. It is going to be sitting right behind the tank on a little stand. So it won't have to travel up to the tank any. The thing is, I didn't know whether to drill another 1 in hole for a bh or just keep the 1 in bh I have and size up the plumbing.

 

[WA coral]

I would say the right way to do it would be to drill a second hole for the intake and connect the 2 intakes with a T and up size the pipe at that point after the T so in other words 2 1 inch intakes into a T and a 1.5 or 2 inch out of the T to the pump, BUT it will work either way if it is easier to just up size the intake pipe after the one inch bulkhead. What is the size of the pumps intake/output 1inch 1.5inch 2inch? Also with the pump sitting up as high as the tank I would think head loss wouldnt be a problem at all even with the 90s I mean even with 4 90s thats between 2-4 foot head loss which is very minor. I think it will work either way I have seen some funny designs work just fine.