Location Of Reducer On Return

[rsumner]

I’m trying to hard plumb my return line on my Red Sea Reefer 525XL. I believe the 525 has a return down pipe of 1”, however my Reef Octopus VarioS-8 has a 1.25” output. In the interest of flow and less head loss, should I add the reducer as close to the down pipe as possible or close to the pump union?

I do intend on adding a manifold with at least three diff reactors, so I figured I’d need less than 1000gph reserved for that and need about 1000 for the display (1380 if we include the sump).

 

[SecretiveFish]

Oooo, that is a nice tank!

If you bust out the equations to determine change in flow, it doesn't really matter that much where you put the reducer. Personally, I would put the reducer on the pump union because that would be easier to do. I would also suggest you have a little bit of silicone tubing after the reducer before the hard plubing to absorb any vibration from the pump. This will help reduce any noise, but also over time the vibration from the pump can lead to failures of the hard plumbing.

 

[rsumner]

Thanks, SecretiveFish. Given that I’ll be splitting half the flow from the return to my manifold, I think I may carry the 1.25 a little past that tee. Immediately after the tee (and before the return down pipe), I’m going to install a 1” Apex flow monitor, so I’ll just reduce it then.

This is my first time hard plumbing so it’s a bit overwhelming.