One Pump to Run Everything? (1 Viewer)

[chriskb3]

Do yall see any problems with using a single external pump to run all of my equipment? (looking at a sequence snapper 2500 gph)

I have a 58 gallon Oceanic with a DIY RR setup, a 40 gallon breeder that will be used as a sump/fuge, and a 30 gallon breeder for a frag tank.

I was thinking of using a spa manifold (1.5" into 6-1") to divide up the output to run the returns to both the 58 and the 30, a DIY beckett skimmer, phosban reactor, and in the future if need be, a chiller.

Naturally, i would use ball valves on each item to adjust the flow to them. And dont need lots of flow through the returns because i use powerheads. The skimer will need about 700-1000 gph, and the rest, minus head loss can be used for everything else.

See any problems with a set up like this? As it would save quite a bit of electricity, plus reduce heat by using an external pump.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[AquaNerd]

2500 gph seems like a lot, but i guess if done right it could work...what would all the head heights be? a phosban only needs like 100 gph or so. i would say a majority of your flow should go to the frag tank and skimmer.

 

[chriskb3]

Yes, 2500 is alot, but the beauty of that pump is you can dial it down through ball valves and the pump will compensate by drawing less power.

The max head to the 58 will be 52" (4'4") which will be the highest point on the whole system.

The frag tank will be 41" above the pump,
And the skimmer wil be @ 0' head sitting right next to the pump.

Thanks for the reply. Just wanted to make sure there werent any un-forseen problems before i proceed.

Chris

 

[AquaNerd]

i'd say a lot of ball valves and unions for quick disconnect. update us when it's all done.

 

[Guest]

What if the pump break down one day and the whole system went down too?

 

[Guest]

Hello,

The beauty guys of having one pump is that what if you have two or three pumps for different equipment and maybe the return pump for the tank stops, well then you have the other pumps running and will over flow other equipment in use. Of course some of you know I have a 54g corner bow front tank with a Little Giant 1325GPH pump as my return to tank and teed to my refugium valved down. My skimmer is off my refugium and returns back to refugium so the pump can still run and won't over flow anything. With the head pressure loss, I'm pumping about 650GPH to tank and about 250 to refuguim with valve to spare. And 2 MAXI 1200 295GPH powers heads in tank. Still debating to even upgrade power heads in tank.


Lloyd, mobile#832-381-7008

 

[chriskb3]

i do see the point of where if the pump does go down, then the tanks will be without "life support" for a time.
But as long as im not out of town and away from the tank for more than a few days, and am able to get a replacement pump there shouldnt be any problems.

Thanks for the imput, this looks like the way to go, as long as i have a spare pump handy. In that case, i can allways stick my current submergable pump in till i get the external back on line.

 

[wazzel]

I think you will have issues gettting everything to ballance out. Especally since you will be using some high head items like the beckett skimmer. How do you plan to set the flow rates? Are you going you invest in flow meters or guess.

In case you do not know pipes in parallel have equal losses.

 

[chriskb3]

Interesting point. balancing it all out may be a problem that would require constant attention. And since you brought that up, it would be quite a catastrophy if the skimmer line clogged and sent all the flow through the returns, overflowing the tanks, or vice versa.

Is there any type of in-line oriface or restrictor on the market that could limit the flow through that particular line to a certain max flow?

In the case of the head losses through parallel lines, I did not happen to think of this but it makes sense. even with the max head of ~4' in my system, I would still have about 2100 gph of useable flow. Or would the head loss be compunded by the head of the other lines and be even less?

 

[ShaneV]

It can be done, when mikester still had his tank it was setupo with one pump that ran everything. Very nice clean setup.

 

[BrianPlankis]

One ring to bind them...one ring to rule them all

Brian

 

[wazzel]

Interesting point. balancing it all out may be a problem that would require constant attention. And since you brought that up, it would be quite a catastrophy if the skimmer line clogged and sent all the flow through the returns, overflowing the tanks, or vice versa.

Is there any type of in-line oriface or restrictor on the market that could limit the flow through that particular line to a certain max flow?

In the case of the head losses through parallel lines, I did not happen to think of this but it makes sense. even with the max head of ~4' in my system, I would still have about 2100 gph of useable flow. Or would the head loss be compunded by the head of the other lines and be even less?

You could put an orfice, but they are not adjustible. If you go with one pump ou will need a control valve in each line, you already knew that.

The head loss seen by the pump will be whatever a single line sees plus the losses in the manifold. You do not add the losses of the parallel lines. If your items are not approximately on the same level you will have to deal with that. I'm thinking you are going to have more than 4 ft head losses. I ball park mine by taking the height of my tank, subtract the height of the water level in your sump, this will give you the lift part of your head loss. Unless you have super small plumbing or lots of elbows 2 ft of flow losses should be a good estimate.

My tank for example.

Top of tank is 5'-10"
Water level in sump if 1' from the floor.

My lift is 4'-10"

My piping is shot runs and only 4 elbows so the 2 ft losses seam ok

Total losses for my system are approx 7 ft (rounding off)

IMO most hobbiest do not understand this and are not getting as much flow as they think they are getting.

 

[toefu]

tried what you suggested, it's pretty tricky balancing, but can be done.

you will need a gate valve on a few items like the skimmer and phosphate reactors, as dialing them w/ ball valves is tough. every few weeks for the first couple of months, the flow needs to be slightly adjusted, so the gate valve is very useful here.

I had it that way before too, but in the end figured it was less electricity when you add up the wattage of a few efficient pumps.

 

[chriskb3]

I really appreciate the imput guys. It seems that running one pump may not be a great idea as i had previously thought.

using two smaller pumps may or may not use less electricity, but that is a minor concern compared to:
-having to constatly tweek each of the valves
-worrying about something overflowing due to the large volume of water movement (major concern)
-loosing overall flow across all lines due to parallel loss

So now I need to look for a couple of ~1000gph pumps. suggestions?

By the way, I have never delt with an external pump for aquariums, but is there a big difference in the output of a pressure rated pump versus a standard submergable pump?
I've built a few ponds and pool fountains using pressure rated pumps, and those things MOVE water.

 

[AquaNerd]

yes, pay attention to pressure

 

[wazzel]

Try the panworld line of pumps.

As far as a big difference there can be if you are going from a flow pump to a pressure rated one.