return pump

[StraightZALE]

i was just looking at a 900 gph return pump for my sump and i got to thinking that maybe that is to much flow. so my question is is there a happy medium in return pump flow or is more always better?

i have a 100gallon tank and a 60gallon sump that will be filled roughly 60%

 

[Krish]

There are arguments for and against high flow sumps. Some feel the slower the flow, the better as water isn't just whizzing by your skimmer whereas on the other hand, some people feel the higher the flow rate, the more water will circulate through your sump. With that said, it all boils down to what you will keep in your sump and what you are trying to accomplish. On a tank that size, I don't think you could go wrong with a return pump in the 900 gph range.


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[StraightZALE]

thanks for the info krish i just rememberd my pump in my fw sump is a 700 and the tanks only 50 gallons. i think im gonna go with the odyssea 1000. its cheap but i've had the odyssea 700 running strong for 3 years now

 

[kpiotrowski]

Man there are going to be some that will disagree with my preference but my theory ( as far as water proccessing in the sump goes) is the more water you can flow from the display to the skimmer in the sump, the more crap the skimmer will have available to skim. I would say your 900gph is right on...depending on head loss too.

I like to use the extremes for examples so, lets say you only flow 10gph through your sump. Your skimmer is going to have alot of contact time with the sump water and you will be returning some very well skimmed water to the display...but at rate of only 10gph. Meanwhile all the fishcrap is building in the display and is only being diluted with 10% ( at 100g display) per hour with skimmed water. But when you flow your 900gph it will be sending all that fishcrap down to the sump faster, where the skimmer will have a shot at much more of it, more often.

I'm sure there is some real good math out there to tell you the happy medium where more is just a waste of time. I subscribe to the 6-10 times per hour club. what type of pump? some can have some real headloss!

 

[kpiotrowski]

I'm a fan of oddysea...when quality doesn't matter. don't know about their pumps but willing to bet there is much headloss. how are they for noise?

 

[StraightZALE]

here is the link to the pump,im gonna wait until sunday to order unless i change my mind. let me know what you think. Odyssea Water Pump

 

[kpiotrowski]

yeah... I sent you a pm. they get good review, and you have experience with them. I wonder what the headloss is though?

 

[StraightZALE]

i cant even hear the pump but my sump siphon water noise is kinda loud

 

[StraightZALE]

so im gonna get a 100 gph pump.. im also gonna drill my tank. any suggestions on what size pipe to use to closely match the ghp of the pump? or any other info on building a overflow system?

 

[BigAl07]

Just for comparison I ran a 1800gph return (6' head loss dropped it to 1350gph) on my 90g Mixed Reef tank. I am a firm believer of passing more water through the sump than less. I like a sump to be my "Mechanical Room" for the tank where-as I have skimmer, heater(s), ATO etc. I feel like the water needs to be processed through the "Mechanical Room" more often than not. YMMV

 

[vinny2261]

A sump is different than a refugium. A high flow sump might work just fine, however if your are going to actually use a refugium then you should have a flow rate from around 400 gpm to a maximum of 750 gpm. Anything faster than the 750 greatly reduce the benifits gained from a refugium. If you are drilling your tank for the pump I usually go up a size on the pump inlet and always go big on the drain. some pumps can actually suck a lot of water and reguire a larger inlet or resevore so that the pump does not run dry. Most of the head loss calculations are on the side of the pump bos or can be found on the manufactures websites. IME