Oceansmotions plumbing questions...

[Doubledown]

I plan to run an OM 4 way as a CL for a room divider (viewable on the 2 long sides only). I will use a Sequence Dart for the pump.

Can I use a single 2" bulkhead drilled through a side for the suction drain or will I need 2? The opposite side will have an overflow to house drains for the sump/fuge/skimmer/etc and return through SeaSwirls.

The OM reduces the return lines to 1.5". Can I "T" off these then?

I will have 2 sets of returns running from the OM to each side of the tank. If I then "T" these off at the sides to create a sort of "X" pattern (one retun port high on left connected to one low port on right is one arm of the "X" and comes from one of the OM return ports, another OM return gets connected to high port on right and a low port on left thus completeing the "X" pattern) will I need to reduce the return plumbing to the 2 separate ports down to 3/4" or 1" bulkheads?

I thought of using this "x" pattern to generate more flow patterns. The OM will alternate between retuns 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 so I will have highs and lows covered on both sides as well as front and back. I wanted to best use all the flow from the Dart (3200gph) but didn't want to blast away at the corals or sand bed. By simple math (I know there will be losses due to friction and gravity), it sounds like I will have about 800 gph running through 4 different zones of the tank at any given time. This combined with 2 SeaSwirls at either end from the sump return should put sufficient random flow through the tank.

Please let me know if my thinking is flawed on this. I am trying to plan this tank out entirely so that I don't have to go back and redo it like my current one.

Thanks for your help.
Chris

[chriscobb]

I know you can T off the returns from the OM as much as you want. As far as running (1) 2" line to supply your pump to the OM it might be ok, but I would opt for (2) 2" holes instead of 1. Your best bet would be to contact Paul about your questions. He will answer everything you need to know with great detail. He's super!!!!!

[Harleyguy]

(1) 2" will be fine. Like you said the OM 4 way has (4) 1 1/2" outputs, so in reality (1) 1 1/2" would be fine (you can't push 2' of water threw a 1 1/2" hole). As for Ting the output that's OK also, just remember that a 1 1/2" splits to (2) 1". You could even split this further by splitting the (2) 1" outputs to (4) 3/4". That's the great thing, you can have lots of outputs off of 1 OM 4 way, this will give your tank lots of different currents and make it very turbulent.

Hope this helps... But the way I'm using 2 of the 4 ways on my tank.

[gbtower]

Originally posted by Harleyguy
I'm using 2 of the 4 ways on my tank.

Are you using both 4-ways on 1 tank? If so, are they "in sync"? I've wondered whether 2 motors would have exactly the same speed, because if they were more than just a tad off from each other, you would get some great randomness. I've used 2 SCWDs together and really liked the effect, but have not heard of someone using 2 OMs yet.

Gerald

[Harleyguy]

I am counting on the fact that they will not be in sync. This should give me some wildly random currents.

[Mr.Lloyd]

I use a 2" outlet on my OM 4 Way with 1 1/2" back into the tank.I have the drum with 2 holes,one round and one oblong.There are times with water coiming out of 3 ports at once.An ampmaster 3000 runs the water.Bouncing off of rocks gives me great water flow.I do have other loops in my 300 but the OM is by far the least likely to mess up and flood the floor.It would take a broken pipe or something similar.