Return flow from Sump

[Johnsteph10]

Hey!
I'm just getting ready to finish plumbing my sump (120g tank, 20g sump) and I was wondering a good way to spread the return out back into the tank for circulation. I got a Lifereef dual siphon/overflow and a Mag12 to return to the tank. I've heard SCWD's are great but they are only 1/2" (?)...pre-bought rotating returns (ie: sea-swirls) suck...

What else can I do? I'm trying to banish all of the evil pumps from the top of my tank..though they are coralline encrusted, they don't fit in...
Thanks in advance!

 

[shr00m]

make a spray bar.

 

[zosterae311]

Construct a return manifold. Definitely the best bet. It's much easier to manipulate your return flow this way...

 

[Mihai]

I'm planning for a closed loop with return via a manifold to get rid of powerheads. I got the manifold and it looks nice, my only question is
regarding the method of securing the manifold to the tank...
anybody that has a manifold, how did you do it? I can fix it in the middle of the tank, but the sides would still hang a bit in and become visible from the outside. Ideally I'd glue it in, but I want to be able to remove it if something goes wrong or I change my mind...

Thanks,
Mihai

 

[Johnsteph10]

Okay... those sound like good ideas.
First stupid question...

What is a return manifold? Can I build it, buy it, etc?
My original idea was something like have a "T junction" from the main return and then "T junction" each of those so that I would end up with 4 outputs to have across the tank...maybe use flexible pvc or some such..

 

[Mihai]

Have a look at:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pbh2oret.htm

Regards,
Mihai