Any fluid dynamics experts?

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

(LOL on title)

Here is my situation. I want to add a second closed loop to a peninsula reef tank (96x36x25). The goal is to use this pump which is 1.5" by 1.5". I can feed the pump by way of two 1" holes in the display. I play to feed, from above, the four corners of the tank. The total head would be about 6 feet.

The pump I want to use for this loop is a external AC, Hammerhead Hybrid. It's rated up to 6K GPH and has 23 ft of head. I estimate I will have about 6 feet of head. Using their flowcharts I should be around 5.2K GPH. Here is the problem. The inlet should always be equal to or greater than the outlet. This pump is 1.5x1.5. If I go this route, I can only feed it by the use of two 1" holes that are in the display. These two 1" holes should feed a 1.5" pump inlet (or will it?) but, there can be no T's that would increase the pipe size within 3-4 feet of the pump. Meaning, have two 1" pipes say go into a 1.5" pipe (per their instructions) In my scenario I would have about 12" distance between the T that would increase pipe size and the pump. Perhaps someone has been in this scenario before. Here are some questions?

Questions:
1) Will these two 1" holes be adequate to feed the pump?
2) Is it OK to feed the pump from a T?
3) Should I use 3/4" or 1" outlets at each of the 4 corners?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KrisReef]

Assuming that the pump is running at 4K, each return at the 4 corners will have to run 1000gph, or a little more than 16.6 gallons per minute.

For 1inch drain pipe, the maximum amount of water will be about 16 gpm, so you would need 4 x 1inch drain pipes to get the water back into the pump, and you have 2 that will join into a 1.5” pipe and that scenario will not work for your situation, as i understand it.

Ref : https://resources.hy-techroof.com/blog/how-much-water-can-flow-through-a-pipe?hs_amp=true

The pump is also going to generate a lot of heat and create a lot of turbulence inside the pump if it was fed enough water to run it at 5K/hour. I think it would be like a hot tub current flow that would not allow fish to escape the current and they would die from exhaustion in a few hours.

The suction into the drains would likely be plugged by any loose objects in the tank including the rock structure?

Not to worry, a smaller pump can be found that will still move adequate water through the tank to keep the system happy.