To manifold or not to manifold...

[crewdawg1981]

Like the title says...

I figure I'm going to need to hookup a few things:
- Chiller
- CA reactor
- BRS Dual Reactor
- BioPellets?
- ?

My thoughts:

Pros:
- More efficient use of my return
- Fewer pumps
- less space taken up in the fish room/sump

Cons:
- I turn off the return 2-3x a week to spot feed... not sure if this is an issue for reactors connected to the manifold or not
- I have to figure out HOW TO PLUMB IT...

 

[gmpolan]

What about using your apex for a feed mode to shut off the return pump while your spot feeding? maybe a stand by feature specifically for...but id honestly t off as its less pumps/less power but i know your not limited on space

 

[acroholic]

If you can run the return through the chiller, do it. I'll assume you are only running one tank with this.

Turning off the return pump isn't necessarily bad for reactors, but what I have found is that you may have to readjust stuff like effluent rates thru the reactors sometimes after you turn it back on.

I used to run everything off my return pump and had a separate external feed pump for my chiller, but now that I remote located my sump and bought a 1 HP chiller, I run the return pump only through the chiller and back to the tanks thru one manifold (return pump output split three ways between two tanks). I have a small BlueLine 20 external that runs all my reactors, and this is distributed through a second manifold (feeds two BRS media reactors, sulfur denitrator, and calcium reactor). The BL 20 only draws 40 watts. I am using 20% less juice this way than before.

My best advice is to run the return pump solo through the chiller and back to the tank, then get a lower wattage draw dedicated reactor pump. However, if you don't mind readjusting the effluent rate of your Ca Reactor once in a while, then you can run them all off one pump. The main advantage of a separate reactor pump/manifold is that it can stay on when the return pump is off, and it maintains a more consistent effluent rate through your reactors because it is independent of the return pump.

The above JME.

 

[budsreef]

I agree with Dave on the reactors, especially for the GFO. If you shut off the return when it starts up again you'll probably have a blast of GFO blow out the output until it settles down again.

 

[rbredding]

....

so

now you just have to figure out how to do it...

 

[acroholic]

Budsreef;625823 wrote: I agree with Dave on the reactors, especially for the GFO. If you shut off the return when it starts up again you'll probably have a blast of GFO blow out the output until it settles down again.

I run my GFO effluent thru a filter sock for that very reason. I got tired of wet-dry vacuuming it out of the sump.

 

[gmpolan]

Good points all, I guess I'm Sol then as I have two feed lines off my return for gfo and carbon. I could feed them with a maxijet but I literally don't have any additional plug outlets so I guess I'll be adding some filter socks in the near future

 

[budsreef]

Acroholic;625830 wrote: I run my GFO effluent thru a filter sock for that very reason. I got tired of wet-dry vacuuming it out of the sump.

Me too, both carbon and GFO go into my filter sock.

Aston Martin;625838 wrote: I designed mine so the return pump and manifold are below the sump so that when the pump is turned off air will not enter the lines. Will this prevent what you guys are talking about with the GFO?

I'm not sure about this. Right now I'm running my GFO off a Maxijet 900 and even with it running continuously, there are still air bubbles trapped within the media. Even without air, on startup some of the GFO will blast to the top of the cannister and then settle back down so you really need to run it to a filter sock.

 

[totalchaos13]

I'm actually working on a similar design. My 180 dt is going to be supplied by a Reeflo Manta Ray (approx 5200gph) which will be split to feed the returns and a manifold so very interested in this discussion...

 

[budsreef]

gmpolan;625841 wrote: Good points all, I guess I'm Sol then as I have two feed lines off my return for gfo and carbon. I could feed them with a maxijet but I literally don't have any additional plug outlets so I guess I'll be adding some filter socks in the near future

When I was running my 120G, I ran a manifold to carbon and GFO, but routed their outputs to the filter sock. I never shut off my return though.

 

[crewdawg1981]

Hmmmm... all good points as Geoff pointed out.

In the dual reactor the GFO is before the activated carbon, so I imagine that would catch most of any "blast", but ya never know.

Also, the chiller pump recommendations on the manual indicate that my return is WAAAYYY too strong to run all my flow through it. Was wondering about how circular it would be to have the chiller hooked up to a manifold off of the return and then dump the cooled water into the return chamber of the sump?

I may go with your suggestion Dave to have a dedicated Manifold pump. I def need to figure this out sooner than later though...

 

[rbredding]

here's what I've got in my setup:

Chiller is fed from the manifold and valved back with a true gate valve (then flows into the UV) finally dumping back in the sump.

UV as stated above, runs between the chiller and (returns into) the sump - this is because I don't want the UV treating all the return water to the tank, otherwise it will kill the pods moving from the fuge into the sump and then into the display

GFO/Calcium Reactors are fed off the return line (before it splits to go to the tank) after the gate valve in the manifold (which is fine because there is a microvalve further restricting the flow into each of the reactors independently)

Returns are also fed off a valve in the manifold (the last valve in the line) so that I can turn them down or up as needed, independently

Skimmer - of course, it's fed off the manifold directly, no valves (it also uses the largest pipe/hose size) - I want it receiving most of the flow from the pump

I've also carried the manifold in 1.5" PVC, where as branch lines for the return (1"), skimmer (dual 1"), Chiller/UV (1") are all smaller and further valved back

 

[acroholic]

Aston Martin;625838 wrote: I designed mine so the return pump and manifold are below the sump so that when the pump is turned off air will not enter the lines. Will this prevent what you guys are talking about with the GFO?

I think that would help keep air out of the reactor manifold lines.

 

[rbredding]

Aston Martin;625838 wrote: I designed mine so the return pump and manifold are below the sump so that when the pump is turned off air will not enter the lines. Will this prevent what you guys are talking about with the GFO?

the gfo cloud of solids is typically in suspension or has found refuge within the media (because the tank water has channeled through the media and left dead spots of flow). turning off the pressure to the reactor completely disrupts the channeling and gives the particles suspended in the water to fall out. when the pressure comes back on, the channeling changes and the particles are pushed off the top of the media (where they settled to).

that's the cloud that Rob/Barry are talking about.

it doesn't bother me, so I just leave it in the system.. (whatever particles actually make it past the foam exit filter, anyway)