Frag Tank Plumb To Main System?

[Chef G]

Hey fellow reefers, Looking to add a frag tank and was thinking of plumbing it to my main setup. CUrrently looking to upgrade my return pump to accommodate this. My question is id like to have my return pump feed both my display and frag tank, for plumbing will I need the same size piping or reduce the pipe that splits to my frag tank.

Also was looking to go with a Cor-15 or 20 return pump to achieve this.

Will my pump choice be sufficient? and what about plumbing??

Thanks in advance your your help!

 

[gowyn]

I’m running both th COR 15 and a 20. Great pumps. Physically they are both the same, only difference is the controller. The 15 is powered directly from your EB8 or other 1 link, the 20 the controller plugs into 110v. For the little extra money I’d go with the 20.

my sump is in the basement, the 15 is strictly a return pump through maybe 20’ of 1” hard line, it runs at around 50% and about 170gph flow rate. The 20 is also a return but also feeds two reactors, again about 20’ of 1” but dialed up a little to 65%. Similar flow rate

I can’t see why either pump couldn’t feed both tanks, I’d use the same size piping and gate valves.

 

[Josh]

My only worry would be if the the main display tank return somewhow plugged and forced all the water into the frag system that the frag tank could handle the extra flow. Sump also has to be able to hold the extra water from the frag system when the power dies, usually this isnt much volume or a problem.

 

[chrisstevens]

There are quite a bit of variables, as for what flow rate you would like or your frag tank can handle, for example ,drain sizes ,overflow box size. Those will limit the amount of flow you can have going to it without overflowing it from the you can figure out return pipe size / pump size. There are some calculators kicking around for some of this I believe reef central has some on that site.