How much return flow is too much from a refugium?

[jdstank]

I recently picked up a 75g to upgrade my 29. It came with a 30L refugium/skimmer/etc. The tank was drilled and has 2 lines in the overflow to feed the refugium. There are also 5 bulkheads installed for return feed from the refugium. The previous owner had ball valves apparently on every bulkhead to control flow. I plan on utilizing the 5 ball valves along with an AquaEuro AE1000 pump rated at 1057gph. Question is, are the 5 bulkheads too much return? Should some of them be plugged up? The majority of other setups I've seen simply have the small knuckled black spouts for return (some are cone, others are fan shaped) and only 2-3 at that. These are 1" bulkheads so obviously the flow won't be as concentrated as the smaller spouts that I see typically. The other thought I had was to again go with the 5 return valves and just alternate them from day to day to change the flow in the tank. The bulkheads in the tank now just seem like too much from setups I've seen in the past. Any advice or opinions? Thanks in advance!

[Ziggy953]

Take a picture of the tank and post it. I'm going to venture to guess that some of those holes are to be used as a closed loop.

Post pics if you can and lets have a look.

[cmor1701d]

I agree with Ziggy. Sounds like those are for a closed loop. The two lines in the overflow are probably different sizes with the larger meant for the drain and the smaller meant for the return. That is the usual setup.

[Ziggy953]

FYI, if the bulkheads are 1" they are probably meant to have 1" plumbing which means they are rated for 600gph. This applies to the drain line only.

[jdstank]

Pics as requested....I did some looking into closed loop systems. I currently use Koralias so I don't see much need for the closed loop (unless someone else can enlighten me to any other purpose of a CLS aside from increased flow). So considering that, would it be smarter just to cap a couple of these off and run maybe 3 returns? The 5th is actually an over the top of the tank design that has the bulkhead positioned inside the overflow - that would likely be one that would definitely be capped off.

On the back of the tank I stuck a fitting inside each bulkhead to make them easier to see in the pic with the blacked out tank. The 2 on the lower left are coming from the overflow, all others lead back into the tank. These are only for visual purposes and not what was in the bulkheads when I picked up the tank. Most of the lines were glued and cut so 50% or so of the plumbing has to be redone.

[Ziggy953]

That is an interesting configuration and setup. You do not want to use the two lower center tank bulkheads as returns. If your pump is shut off it will drain the tank to that level.

If you don't want a CL system on your tank then cap the bulkheads and just put an over the top return line. from what I'm seeing the top two holes on either side of the tank look to be a few inches below the surface of the water level and could cause a problem if ever you lose power or turn your pump off.

[melosu58]

Moved to General hardware and equipment discussion.

[jdstank]

Originally Posted by Ziggy953

That is an interesting configuration and setup. You do not want to use the two lower center tank bulkheads as returns. If your pump is shut off it will drain the tank to that level.

If you don't want a CL system on your tank then cap the bulkheads and just put an over the top return line. from what I'm seeing the top two holes on either side of the tank look to be a few inches below the surface of the water level and could cause a problem if ever you lose power or turn your pump off.

Good advice...what I ended up doing was using the 2 top bulkheads which do sit about 3" below the water level but I installed an anti-backflow valve just off the pump. Water can only flow to the bulkheads that way, and any pump failure will simply result in the valve closing. Tried it already and it worked perfect! The lower bulkheads were capped, I can always remove if I ever decided to install a CL system but for now it's just too much plumbing for where the display tank is going to be and would become an eyesore since it would cause the tank to sit at a much greater distance from the wall.

[Ziggy953]

Originally Posted by jdstank

Good advice...what I ended up doing was using the 2 top bulkheads which do sit about 3" below the water level but I installed an anti-backflow valve just off the pump. Water can only flow to the bulkheads that way, and any pump failure will simply result in the valve closing. Tried it already and it worked perfect! The lower bulkheads were capped, I can always remove if I ever decided to install a CL system but for now it's just too much plumbing for where the display tank is going to be and would become an eyesore since it would cause the tank to sit at a much greater distance from the wall.

Excellent solution. Just make sure to periodically test your check valve to make sure they haven't gotten gummed up. They will eventually need to be replaced or at the very least removed and cleaned out.