Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Scott I'm plumbing 1" lines, can go larger bulkhead is only 1."

I'm thinking of mounting the pumps on a mounting plate of some kind then mounting it to the stand on some rubber motor mounts or springs.

Joe

Amyjoe wrote:Snoop is a computer geek.... I think that is what that was referring to....

Lookin great.... Keep the progress pics coming....keeps me from going to the online coral dealers when i pop home for lunch..... might be cheaper for me to start eating out again

Phisher wrote:Scott I'm plumbing 1" lines, can go larger bulkhead is only 1."

I'm thinking of mounting the pumps on a mounting plate of some kind then mounting it to the stand on some rubber motor mounts or springs.

Joe

It's just the returns that need to be as large as you can use. Since the intake always has negative pressure and the only restriction is from the pipe walls it's not really an issue. It's the pressure side that you have to worry about. Danner recommends that their Mag Drive pumps should be plumbed with PVC that is twice as large as the output.

That makes sense. I have plenty of 1.5" pipe so I may just use that for the intake. Too bad 1.5 fittings are so $$$.

Joe

Scott wrote:...It's just the returns that need to be as large as you can use. Since the intake always has negative pressure and the only restriction is from the pipe walls it's not really an issue. It's the pressure side that you have to worry about. Danner recommends that their Mag Drive pumps should be plumbed with PVC that is twice as large as the output.

Now you guys are talking my language!

A pump's capacity is based on "differential head" which is the change (increase) of pressure from the suction to the discharge. The manufacturer will publish “pump curves” which state the flow at a give head pressure (differential head). This is true for all centrifugal pumps. In order to know the actual flow you need to know 4 basic things:

1. Height of water on the suction side of pump
2. Height of water on the outlet side of pump
3. Friction losses on the inlet
4. Friction losses on the outlet

DH = (outlet height + outlet friction) – (inlet height – inlet friction)

The height is easy enough and in most cases is ALL you really need to know ASSUMING you properly size your piping. If you’re really geeky (like me) you’ll calculate your Reynold’s number, determine your friction factor, then iteratively calculate the pressure drop and flow rate.

Seems like too much trouble though, so just do what Scott said and make your piping one pipe size bigger than your pump’s connections (inlet and outlet). Why? It has to do with Bernoulli's Law which defines the relationship between pressure drop and fluid flow.

I disagree with Scott’s assessment that the inlet piping doesn’t matter as much; in fact, in industry when I design a piping system the suction piping is almost always bigger than the outlet piping. This mostly has to do with cavitation, but it can also affect the amount of flow you can get out of your pump. It’s most important if you have a significant amount of piping. By the way… cavitation is very noisy!

KrazyPlace wrote: I disagree with Scott’s assessment that the inlet piping doesn’t matter as much; in fact, in industry when I design a piping system the suction piping is almost always bigger than the outlet piping. This mostly has to do with cavitation, but it can also affect the amount of flow you can get out of your pump. It’s most important if you have a significant amount of piping. By the way… cavitation is very noisy!

I stand corrected and I definately agree with what you say I use oversized intake plimbing on my pumps too. That is why I haven't installed my Reefflo Dart yet. The intake plumbing would be too small.

Those reeflo pumps are awesome. I was going to just go with 1 reeflo baracuda for all my plumbing but I couldn't put all that flow throung my overflow or sump. Two darts were still too much flow, and money.

If you get one Scott let me know what you think.

Joe

I've got one sitting in my closet. It does pretty good. Right now it's holding up some clothes very well. I ordered it just after they increased the price but got it for the previous price. I thought that my closed loop was plumbed a little different so it turned out I couldn't install it without moving my tank of draining enough water to get the closed loop intakes above the water line so I can take out the bulkheads and fix my plumbing. With two young kids and all the other obligations that I have had recently it hasn't happened but I have everything I need. Lonestar even donated some 1.5" Spa-flex and my brother-in-law donated some 2" Ka-flex to keep the resonation from pump vibrations down to a minimum. When I get it pumping I will let you know but I have heard good things about all Sequence products.

Well the tank did not make it in today and this has really taken the wind out of my sails. I hate to go any farther until I see how well it fits the stand, can't start the plumbing, ugh this sucks.

Joe

Phisher wrote:Well the tank did not make it in today and this has really taken the wind out of my sails. I hate to go any farther until I see how well it fits the stand, can't start the plumbing, ugh this sucks.

Ahhh... patients... one of the characteristics that make the reef keeper stand out in a crowd!

Boy that does suck when your new toys don't arrive. It always seems like the vendors are not in the same hurry we are!

Actually I think the tank is ready but my middleman took the day off for his kids birthday. Don't people have priorities anymore!

Joe

The eagle has landed!




For some reason its much bigger than I expected, but I am sure glad I went for the 24" deep tank.

Picked up most of my plumbing and electrical today as well.

I expect everyone going on the NO trip to stop by and pitch in on Saturday.

I got to borrow Sean's expression "maybe I got a little carried away!"

Joe

That is a perfect size. Plenty of room to aquascape and you only need two halides. Looks good, now get busy .

I agree, that is the PERFECT size! There is a lot to be said about utilizing all your lighting! My 65G has 2 MH, but I think alot of the lighting is wasted on the 36x18 footprint. You got twice the tank I have and you'll have about the same power bill! I can't wait to see your tank.

lookin good........... lets get some water in there