oversized plumbing

[davejnz]

Recently.I had to change my return plumbing in both tank from clogging,squid failure,cheap LFS return nozzle.I've realized the benefits of oversized plumbing for a while so now i could finally add it.It works on a simple process that can be tested easily by blowing into a cofee-stirrer(its pretty hard to blow thru)then blowing thru a McDonalds straw(easy to blow through).Basically by using oversize plumbing,you reduce the friction in the plumbing and therefore reduce the pressure at the pump.The results in my case were astounding.In my low-flow tank i went from 5/8 ID to 3/4"ID plumbing and changed my cheap LFS return nozzle to 1" elbows that were reduced down to 3/4" at the end and left unglued to redirect the nozzle-elbow.The flow i gained was incredible and HOB overflow had to be modified to accept it.When my squid failed,I changed from 3/4" plumbing to 1" and used a T instead of the squid.All i can say is :shock: ,my return pump pumped so fast i could not believe the difference.I had to add another U-tube to HOB overflow for it to keep up.So if your return pump has a 3/4" return nozzle,go with 1"plumbing,a 5/8" return pump,use 3/4".You reduce as close to the pump as possible and at the return nozzles/PVC elbows.Another advantage of an oversize return nozzle/PVC elbow is that it decreases velocity but increases flow.Most corals IME dont like to be blasted.Just thought i'd share my recent upgrade with my plumbing and the results i received

[dakar]

Thanks for the info, just backed up my thoughts and future plans of changing the 55 up to 1" piping. Did the larger pipe cause any change in the amount of air pulled down through the overflow?

[davejnz]

My overflow plumbing was always 1",it was my return plumbing that I changed over from 3/4".I don think there was much difference in the amount of air that went thru the overflow,but the amount of water was about 40% more.It was really remarkable,In fact,my tank overflowed at first until i added another
u-tube to keep up.I really need to get another tank with built in overflow,these HOB overflows are a P.I.T.A. IMO

[dakar]

Now I understand.... makes more sense when I read it again. Still a good reason/excuse to replumb the 55, I can even try to be neater about not getting purple goop on some of the joints :)