need help picking a return pump

[trble81]

All,

 

I've got a 90 gallon with 2 PVC drains (1.5" diameter). The water line will be no higher than .25 to .50 inches above the drain, and the water will go down PVC ~ 4.5 feet to the sump. There, it'll go through the 20 gallon long sump and will need to get pumped back into the tank. I plan on using flexible vinyl tubing to get the water back. I'm not looking to have to have the flow in the tank at a proper amount with this return pump because I have other pumps in the tank that will accomplish that. What I'm looking for is a return pump that will return the water to the tank in a manner that would keep up with the draining (basically so that the sump doesn't dry up).

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

--Mike

[zygote2k]

Mag 9.5

[trble81]

Cool. I was leaning that way but I wanted to bounce the question off of people with more salt water in their veins than I have.

[Larry Grenier]

My setup is similar to yours. With your 2 overflows you can go bigger. I only have 1 1" drain line and a little more distance to carry water back and the Mag 9.5 works great. I also rely on another circulation pump for additional movement. The 9.5 is nice and small and inexpensive for what it can do.

[Origami]

You could go bigger but a Mag 9.5 will give you something around 8x turn over through your sump which is probably plenty. If you plan on a refugium in the sump, it may even be a bit high and may need to be throttled back some. You'll have plenty of drainage capacity and the good news is this: While one drain will handle the Mag 9.5 flow with this kind of head pressure, having two drains is good backup in case one drain gets plugged or otherwise fails. In other words, it's good insurance not to exceed the capacity of one drain and to use the second as a failsafe.

[rioreef]

All,

 

I've got a 90 gallon with 2 PVC drains (1.5" diameter). The water line will be no higher than .25 to .50 inches above the drain, and the water will go down PVC ~ 4.5 feet to the sump. There, it'll go through the 20 gallon long sump and will need to get pumped back into the tank. I plan on using flexible vinyl tubing to get the water back. I'm not looking to have to have the flow in the tank at a proper amount with this return pump because I have other pumps in the tank that will accomplish that. What I'm looking for is a return pump that will return the water to the tank in a manner that would keep up with the draining (basically so that the sump doesn't dry up).

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

--Mike

 

 

First you should know how much water will be coming down into the sump. Then use the heal loss calculator from reefcentral to calculate the info for a specific pump using your return plumbing info.

 

Also, what I did is put a tee on the return and have a portion go into the fuge (the only feed for the fuge). This pipe going into the fuge has a valve on it that I can control the flow. I also have valves on the drain and the return above the sump, these are full unions. The one above the pump is always wide open and the drain and the fuge ones are used to control the balance between the drain/returns. This way I also reduce any backpressure on the pump.

 

Pics from my initial tank setup and dry fittings as to show what I mean..

 

 

Drain and one of the returns.

 

Mag 12 with full union (wide open always. used to close off water draining back down into sump when cleaning sump chambers.)

 

Tee into refugium

[rioreef]

There are two of these threads. I have posted in both.

 

 

 

All,

 

I've got a 90 gallon with 2 PVC drains (1.5" diameter). The water line will be no higher than .25 to .50 inches above the drain, and the water will go down PVC ~ 4.5 feet to the sump. There, it'll go through the 20 gallon long sump and will need to get pumped back into the tank. I plan on using flexible vinyl tubing to get the water back. I'm not looking to have to have the flow in the tank at a proper amount with this return pump because I have other pumps in the tank that will accomplish that. What I'm looking for is a return pump that will return the water to the tank in a manner that would keep up with the draining (basically so that the sump doesn't dry up).

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

--Mike

 

 

First you should know how much water will be coming down into the sump. Then use the heal loss calculator from reefcentral to calculate the info for a specific pump using your return plumbing info.

 

Also, what I did is put a tee on the return and have a portion go into the fuge (the only feed for the fuge). This pipe going into the fuge has a valve on it that I can control the flow. I also have valves on the drain and the return above the sump, these are full unions. The one above the pump is always wide open and the drain and the fuge ones are used to control the balance between the drain/returns. This way I also reduce any backpressure on the pump.

 

Pics from my initial tank setup and dry fittings as to show what I mean..

 

 

Drain and one of the returns.

 

Mag 12 with full union (wide open always. used to close off water draining back down into sump when cleaning sump chambers.)

 

Tee into refugium