Looking for feedback on return flow

[lastlight]

Hello,

I'm new here and planning my first aquarium. I'm having this custom built here in Calgary. I'm looking for last-minute opinions on this plan before I start the build...tomorrow likely.

http://www.thelastlight.net/temp/tank.jpg

Pretty basic here. I want to avoid powerheads:

- 18" wide overflow spanning entire width
- 2 x 1.5" drains (Made an educated guess as to their size)
- Return through another 1.5" hole
- Return splits to 4 loc-lines. Intend to aim the 2 near the overflow towards the opposite end/ middle of the tank. Other two to maybe aim a bit downwards, against glass maybe.

My questions:

Will my holes be large enough?

I'm going to be buying a Quiet One 3000 or 4000. 780 / 1017 gph respectively. Which is my best bet, considering head loss, and restriction of loc-line?

I intend to keep softies and maybe some lps initially. perhaps try sps at a later date.

Thanks for any and all feedback!

Brett

[Ruth]

Hey Brett, sorry I can't give you much feedback on you design but it looks to me like it will work. My only comment is that you may find you do not have enough flow with that pump running your closed loop. I am not sure what size tank it is but if you are planning on trying SPS in the future you should be aiming for probably 30 - 50 times total tank volumme turnover per hour. On my 230g tank, which is heading to be more softie and LPS I have 40X turnover and my 190g which will be and SPS tank I have close to 100X turnover. You may want to look at using an Ocean Motions device to really give you some nice flow patterns if it fits into your budget.

[mark]

It would work but you'll have to balance flow or majority will come from nozzles closest to the pump. Another way to balance is a perimeter loop (was quite a few posts in Calfo section on reefcentral).

Looks like your pretty far into this but have you considered a separate closed loop. You would be able to get a high flow in the tank without needing to run it all through the sump.

Here's a link to a forum with lots of pictures of CL layout (you can setup without OM valves). http://www.oceansmotions.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10