1 pump for the whole tank?

cyberwollf

New member
Ok got this idea at work today... build a 20G with RDSB, ATS, skimmer, fuge, and sump... With only 1 pump (no powerheads either).

For the overflow: Can remember where i saw it on here but an edge to edge overflow box with several overflows drilled:

1: overflow with no siphon break. ballvalve is set to allow silent high flow just short of the cavitation point of the overflow box.

2: overflow with siphon break that quietly flows the remaining overflow

the flow through the skimmer should = flow rate of pump - headloss - flow leached for fuge, etc. This should be plenty for venturi or Beckett. all flow rates are adjustable and the system is "flood proof" (given the sump is big enough to hold the skimmer water column and fuge drain off etc.

Direct the return for multiple high flow outputs and no powerheads are needed.

OK, What can yall find that needs to be fixed and if possible what flowrate class would the pump need to be?
207396tank_idea.JPG
 
You can do that, but I would never suggest doing it, with lots of flow through the sump you don't get much of a chance to try and concentrate surfactants for the skimmer. Plus it is pretty hard to keep it all quite.

Kim
 
I disagree, if you setup the sump right you can slow the water down in the sump.

I will be setting up my tank pretty much just like that except for one thing that will not work is using gravity for the venturi.

In order to make that work you will have to put a recirculating pump on the skimmer and then plum the overflow into the skimmer seperatly(which is what i am doing). Other then that it should work fine. Just be sure to keep the flow through the RDSB and fuge kinda slow.
 
Gravity is cheap and the reliability can't be beat :). Using the vertical head energy of the falling water to create the flow through your other devices works fantastic. I use my overflows to feed all other devices.

One pump runs a closed loop for flow through the display. One pump is the return from the sump. The overflow water feeds all the other devices passively, allowing a large elaborate system to run with just 2 pumps.

Depending on what you want to keep in your display, putting a single good powerhead to the display might enable you to save some money on power from getting by with a much smaller return pump.

Best Wishes,
-Luke
 
While it is normally good to run your skimmer off of the overflow - in this case, i think you would have far too high of flow through your skimmer for it to be efficient. You only want something like 1.5-10x times tank volume per per hour through a recirc skimmer for maximum efficiency.

Instead, run a tee off your return pump to feed the skimmer with a valve so you can adjust the flow to the skimmer
 
i was trying to keep the high flow through the skimmer for the venturi/beckett. Has anyone tried to run these off gravity flow?
 
it won't work well (if at all). You won't get the pressure required (for Beckett) or flowrate required (for venturi) to work well.
 
Was thinking about running 1.5 inch line and downsizing to a nozzle at the venturi site to increase velocity across the tube
 
Will not work. The venturi/beckett needs lots of pressure to get it to create small air bubbles. so unless you have the tank on around the 2'nd or 3'rd floor you will not get enough pressure to make it work.

Kim
 
any other suggestions on playing with the diagram to do it all with one pump (cool idea to me). I guess the pump could start in the sump then through the skimmer and then back to the tank. that that would require some type of bubble trap, while maintaining pressure to serve as powerheads on the return

If the pump fails I am screwed. Which brings up a question: if a tank is lightly stocked. couple of clowns, CUC, and corals in a 20, why is that a bad thing if the pump fails? temporarily

207396tank_idea2.JPG


this will require the skimmer cup to be above the tank water level. Any other ideas on a way to use 1 pump for a whole system?
 
Or i could bank on the ATS and leave off the skimmer and problem that comes with it.

Or do an airstone skimmer, which i dont think would be worth it and it adds an airpump to the harware list.

Opinions on that?
 
Found somone that has done a beckett on gravity alone:

http://www.reefworkshop.com/DIY_gravityassistpump.htm

"... my original plan was to not have to have a skimmer pump at all. I did infact design my first skimmer body and spray injector around this idea. Did it work? Yes. Did it work well? No. 1.5 PSI wasn't enought pressure to generate enough bubbles to efficiently skim a 130 gallon system. I ran it in this configuration for the first month. During this time the live rock I had ordered cured, the tank cycled and I had my first inhabitants (janitor crew) in the system. During the curing on the worst day it actually pulled 1.5 quarts of dark brown skimmate (yes in one day). That might be typical of the curing process. I have only done it once. Most of the time it just pulled a little skimmate at a time maybe a cup a week. It simply doesn't compare to the way I have it operating now with the MAG 5. But that is not to say that it couldn't work without a pump on a 30 gallon or similar system. Remember its around the same drop from a 30 gallon tank to the sump as it is from a 200 gallon tank to the sump."
 
Cyberwollf,

If you read, that skimmer does not work off of gravity alone. There is a mag 5 in the overflow that is pumping water down to the skimmer. It just uses the free flow from gravity to help with the skimmer.

Kim
 
From the part in quotes it looks like he had tried it without a pump and said it did work, but not well enough for a 300G. With a 20G DT, that i plan to build a near eye level stand for, there will be about the same head pressure in the water column. Just fishing to see if anyone else has done it and any suggestions to improve the single pump idea.
 
The single pump idea will work JUST FINE - just not in the configuration you're wanting to do it.

you can do it exactly like you have it in your first drawing except you'll need to move your skimmer to AFTER the pump. just put a T on the main return line to the tank right after the pump. On this T, put a valve which goes to the skimmer. Then have the skimmer return directly back to the sump. You can then adjust how much flow goes through the skimmer and you'll have plenty of pressure to get good performance on the skimmer.
 
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