This weekend I installed a closed loop on one of my 180’s, being powered by an Ampmaster 3000. With all the debate going on about plumbing, I would like opinions. I don’t have pictures yet, so I will describe it.
The pump sits under the far right side of my tank. For the intake, I used a U-tube that goes directly into the pump with 1.5” plumbing, a ball valve, and one 90 elbow.
For the output, I go directly out of the pumps union to a ball valve. Then about a 3’ section of 1.5” flex PVC. The flex goes into a 1.5” coupler to about a 2’ section of 1.5’ PVC. This goes into a 1.5” T. On each side, I used about 3’ of 1.5” PVC with 3 T’s on each side (evenly spaced) that convert from 1.5” to 1”. On each of these outputs, it has a 1” 90 pointed down. The 90 has a reducer to take it to ¾”. A small section of ¾” PVC goes down into the tank, with a ¾” 90 on it.
This configuration provides me with 6 – ¾ “ outputs. I get a lot of flow, but the velocity is weak. I am going to test two options to fix this. One is to reduce to ½” outputs. The other is the cap off 2 of the outputs. Although, after reading some of the latest threads about plumbing, I may need to re-think my design.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I want to get it right on this tank, because I’m going to do it again on my new SPS tank.
The pump sits under the far right side of my tank. For the intake, I used a U-tube that goes directly into the pump with 1.5” plumbing, a ball valve, and one 90 elbow.
For the output, I go directly out of the pumps union to a ball valve. Then about a 3’ section of 1.5” flex PVC. The flex goes into a 1.5” coupler to about a 2’ section of 1.5’ PVC. This goes into a 1.5” T. On each side, I used about 3’ of 1.5” PVC with 3 T’s on each side (evenly spaced) that convert from 1.5” to 1”. On each of these outputs, it has a 1” 90 pointed down. The 90 has a reducer to take it to ¾”. A small section of ¾” PVC goes down into the tank, with a ¾” 90 on it.
This configuration provides me with 6 – ¾ “ outputs. I get a lot of flow, but the velocity is weak. I am going to test two options to fix this. One is to reduce to ½” outputs. The other is the cap off 2 of the outputs. Although, after reading some of the latest threads about plumbing, I may need to re-think my design.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I want to get it right on this tank, because I’m going to do it again on my new SPS tank.
