Overflow/return pump question?

Hi everybody,

I just purchased a 2760 Gph Centrifugal In-line Electric Water Pump 1/2Hp with max head height of 30'. I'm using it on a 120 gal reef with a 20 gal sump and a 30 gal fuge. The sump and the fuge are in my basement and the pump will be pumping the water up to the DT about 10-12 feet. Taking into account the elbows and such in my plumbing, I figure that the pump will be pumping about 1900 gph give or take. I also have a Hydor Koralia 4 power-head rated for 1200gph currently in my DT. I plan on plumbing the return with 1" pvc T'd off in the back of the tank so that the water is dispersed on both ends.
My question is, Do you think that this will be over kill for my aquarium, and should I put a T in my return line to divert water back to the sump/fuge to lessen the amount of water going to the DT. Also, do you think that 2- 1 1/4 overflows will be sufficient for the pump. Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks,
Joe

 

sounds fine to me, if your worried about the flow why dont you put a valve inline to throttle it back if need b

 

I would put a tee with a valve in also,if you don't have to throttle it back it won't hurt and may come in handy. I have a tee in mine and use it to run water through my diy phosphate/nitrate/carbon reactor so I don't have to use another pump for it.

 

In my opinion, no – do not tee any of the return water back to the sump. On my 180 I use a 55 gallon sump in the basement and I run a 6000 GPH Danner HQ (best pumps out there btw) I pumping up the same distance as you, roughly 10 foot.

Your pump shuts off at 30’, a 10’ rise plus elbows is going to kill the GPH – 1900 GPH seems a little high of a calculation. I can not find your pump HP chart online – honestly didn’t look to hard. However, A little Giant pump pushing 2800 GPH has the following head pressure (this one I found online) at 2.5 foot of HP GPH = 2800, at 10 foot of HP GPH = 300. The little giant is weaker than your ½ HP pump, but still….10’ is a lot of head plus you need to add 1 to 1.5 foot of head pressure per elbow. I could be way off, I just want to make sure you are not disappointed after your install.

I am not sure on your overflows, but they are probably capable of dropping 800 GPH each – I think you will be fine. Install unions and ball valves – always. Good luck.

 

thanks

Thanks for all the info. From what I have read so far, trial and error is always a part of DIY projects so I wont be to disappointed, I just modify if need be. Thanks again for the input.
Joe

 

You will have plenty of flow. a 30' cutoff is a high pressure pump. Not all pumps are the same. 10" is not all that much. I would not tee any off to the sump, but would definitely install a valve to throttle flow if need be. Throttling flow reduces power consumption, recircing your sump just wastes power.

A rule of thumb is 1 foot of head for every 90. 2 45s give the same resistance as one 90. You can use flex PVC is it help. There are many flow calculators on line to find head loss for a given piping system. Just don't have one handy. But you can determin head loss and look that up for GPM on your pump chart.

 

Hey Everybody,
Thanks for all the reply's, I have another question, should the water going into the fuge come from a T on the return line, or should the fuge be fed from the water coming from my overflow. I have included an attachment showing a tentative setup that I was planning on using- suggestions anyone?

Thanks Joe

 

Normally you want the fuge fed from your overflow,one reason is most people don't want to cut back on the flow going into the dt(if you need to do that you usually tee off with a valve back to the return section) another reason is you want the water from the fuge to "feed" your dt,and the water from the dt to "feed" your fuge,teeing off your return seems like it would be more of a circle,if that makes sense.
Looking at your diagram I see that you have a mag pump to run water to the fuge,if at all possible IMO I would try not to use a pump for this if you can use the syphon method.The fuge water is usually a slow flow and using the pump the flow will have to be pretty quick to keep up with the pump unless you put a valve in the line after the pump to dial it back.This pump also creates another possible place for a flood if something goes wrong plus the aggravation of having to dial it in just right to match everything up.Also on your diagram on your overflow to the sump I would put the line going into that section on the same side as your fuge overflow so more of the water going in there would have to pass by the skimmer to get to the pump back to the dt giving it more chance to get filtered by the skimmer.HTH.

 

Geoff,
I'm confused about your last comment (Also on your diagram on your overflow to the sump I would put the line going into that section on the same side as your fuge overflow so more of the water going in there would have to pass by the skimmer to get to the pump back to the dt giving it more chance to get filtered by the skimmer.) Could you please explain this in further detail. Sorry to be a pain.
Thanks
Joe

 

Putting a tee to the sump with a valve on that is a very good idea because some pumps do not take very well to restricting the flow of the only exhaust pipe with a valve. You might be risking damage to your pump if you throttle back the pump witha valve on teh only exhaust.

IMHO, put a couple tees and valves on it. You never know when that extra 1 will be needed for future equipments, or even water changes.