Head loss

I'm pretty frustrated at head loss. This is more of rant than anything. I have an Eheim 1250 which is rate for 325 gph. After testing the actual amount it puts into my DT from my sump, it is actually around 125 gph. Is there a way to decrease this kind of loss, or is it just a fact of life? I suppose I could raise my return pump in the sump so it doesn't have as far to travel.

After my upgrade, my DT will be 7 inches higher, thus making the flow even less

 

I don't think raising the pump would help since the water level would still be the same.

Head loss is a fact of life I think. You can get a larger pump or deal with it as is and add more pumps inside the tank if you need the flow.

posted with tapatalk please ignore bad spelling and grammar

 

Put as few elbows in the return line as possible, use the largest size line as the pump will handle.

 

What size is the plumbing, how long, what fittings and what is the vertical distance between the sump water level and display water level?

Is the suction side of the pump restricted in any way?

As a general rule centrifugal pumps work better if you upsize the plumbing one size.

Shutoff head, zero flow, for the Eheim 1250 is only 6'7" so you are probably about right as far as flow when you consider the average head between sump and display is around 5 feet between the tube/pipe and fitting losses.