water flow issue.

[reefbound]

Hey all, a little while ago I posted about moving my sump and skimmer and such sixteen feet away from the tank into another room. well it looks like after all the plumbing is in place and all setup it looks like the water will fall 18 inches in sixteen feet.
Does anyone think that this will not work? You have to imagine water going down a 1 inch pipe on a diagonal16 feet falling 18 inches from one end to the other.
The return will be a 3/4 inch pipe on a mag 950.

 

[BillyZ]

well it will "work" but how much flow you end up with will depend on a few things.

which system is higher than the other, the display or the sump? If your display is higher then you can still use gravity for your drain from the main and use your pump to return. This is a typical set up.

How much flow you'll get will depend on how "straight" your return plumbing is going back to the display. Even though it's only 18 inches in verticle rise, each bend and coupling in the plumbing will add resistance and slow your flow some.

You might consider using a larger diameter pvc for your return to help reduce the back preasure caused by the turbulance at joints and elbows. Also, if things turn out to be too slow, you could go for a larger return pump and already have the larger pvc plumbing to handle it.

 

[reefbound]

its the main that will be higher and Im thinking about using 1 1/2 pvc pipe for the runs back and forth.believe me I wish I could move the tank closer to the room that will house the sump but that just not possible. Im not to concerned about" high "flow on the return because I have a mag 1200 on sqwd for flow, If I could attain 600 gph that would be ok with me.