What pump are you using, and what is the vertical distance from the pump to the highest tank? Keep in mind that there is more performance loss from vertical height than from the fittings. A low head pump such as a Quiet one is less suitable for a stacked system than say a Mag Drive. Switching pumps or raising the sump may be the solution.
Pluming a fish room
- Thread starter Pharaoh
- Start date
I have about 9' of head. but I am running a Reeflo Barracuda. This pump is about 4500gph. It should do about 3K at that head hieght. I figure that I have something causing the pressure loss. I don't think it is the pump.
Yep. I double checked the pump curve, and it's not the pump. Make sure the pump isn't sucking any air. That is a performance killer.
Btw, I like how Reeflo included the power consumption in their pump curves.
Btw, I like how Reeflo included the power consumption in their pump curves.
I am pretty much going to start planning a completely new setup for the pump. Going to go with simplicity over effectiveness this time.
If the pump was sucking air or cavitating there would be some noise. Is it possible you have somehow got a blockage in your discharge line somewhere?
CHOMPERS;2622388; said:
Going to go with the one line splitting to three tiers. trim the flow back starting from the bottom and work my way up. going to keep it simple with the plumbing and use 45s and lots of straight shots.
I'll post up a quick pic in a minute
Potts050;2622413; said:
Before I had problems, I made sure there wasn't any air getting in there. So I'm confident that it isn't sucking air. As far as blockages, very doubtful. All of the tanks will get water if I set it loose full bore. But then you have too much flow.
dan woodland;2622425; said:
Absolutely positively. Nothing better than a central system.
I think it boils down to the fact that I tried to get cute and got way ahead of myself and missed something in the design of it all. I am killing the flow somewhere, I just have to find where, and IMO, it will be easier to just re-make the whole return system in a simplified manner.
Before I latch on to this pump, I was shooting for efficiency with using a smaller pump. Now I'm going to toss that idea and just straight plumb the sucka.
I can't see your image it won't load, but from reading through I think I can help:
What size pipe are you using? 1.5" or 2" hopefully
The best way to plumb a system is in an "S" shape. Go up to the top row and then work your way down in a continuous line. use valves on each tank. leave a valve at the bottom to return to the sump in case you wanna relieve pressure or empty the line. Don't kill yourself using 45's if you only have a few corners to do, not that big of a deal.
What size pipe are you using? 1.5" or 2" hopefully
The best way to plumb a system is in an "S" shape. Go up to the top row and then work your way down in a continuous line. use valves on each tank. leave a valve at the bottom to return to the sump in case you wanna relieve pressure or empty the line. Don't kill yourself using 45's if you only have a few corners to do, not that big of a deal.
