return pump manifold

Hi All, Ive attached some pictures of my DIY manifold I put on my water box tank. I built this one myself but now having used it for a few months I realise it has some serious functionality/design flaws - primarily a loss of head pressure feeding through the UV and back up into the display...

I have these that I no longer need. Manifold - $80 Ball Valve $20 $100 shipped

Is there anything wrong with this manifold design? Not sure what else I can do? It’s going in a 425xl with a COR-20 return it’s 1” from return and going to 1/2” gate valves and the top is 3/4” barb….

I have my current return pump manifold set up in the second picture attached, but I have noticed I lost a lot of power due to all the corners, I didn't think this though the first time well enough I guess. So I thought about changing it completely to the new design I drew out in the first image...