Dudester
Premium Member
So here's what I worked on yesterday. As indicated in the photo above, I'm using a Red Dragon 6.5m3 for my main sump return pump. I chose this for many reasons, some being that it's deadly silent (I'm torn between calling it a ninja pump or a stealth pump), it requires very little maintenance due to the calcium bypass from the impeller, it creates almost no heat even when it's run internally, and it runs on only 65W. All of this comes with a price, but I became so tired of my Mag12 seizing and late night emergent impeller cleanings that it was worth it to me. This will probably result in more flow through the sump than I want, but I can live with that. I'm running it internally so I only need plumbing for the outlet. The only problem with the pump is that the inlet and outlet are metric sizes. It's supposed to come with silicone tubing but none is available currently. In case you want to see more photos of the pump, here it is.
To get around the whole metric connection, here's what I did. I used a piece of 1" clear vinyl tubing, heated it in hot water, then with the strength of 10 men I applied it to the pump outlet. This was connected to a barbed fitting, followed by a threaded adaptor, and finally a SUBV was glued to that. The photo doesn't show it but, naturally, I used teflon tape at the threaded fitting. The connection was incredibly tight, and I would have to name it Houdini if it were able to pop off, but to make sure I added a bunch of zip ties for added security. I feel very confident that this won't come off unintentionally. Here's how I rigged it up.
This will return to the underside of the tank via a 1" bulkhead in the overflow box, then to the tank via an OmniFlex nozzle. When I fired it up the it didn't work properly, although it tests out perfectly in a large basin. There's a problem somewhere in the return plumbing between the SUBV and the OM nozzle, I just can't seem to figure out where. There are no visible leaks anywhere. Maybe the riser tube inside the overflow box isn't seated well? I'll have to check that tomorrow. In the mean time, the pump is sitting idle in the sump.
To get around the whole metric connection, here's what I did. I used a piece of 1" clear vinyl tubing, heated it in hot water, then with the strength of 10 men I applied it to the pump outlet. This was connected to a barbed fitting, followed by a threaded adaptor, and finally a SUBV was glued to that. The photo doesn't show it but, naturally, I used teflon tape at the threaded fitting. The connection was incredibly tight, and I would have to name it Houdini if it were able to pop off, but to make sure I added a bunch of zip ties for added security. I feel very confident that this won't come off unintentionally. Here's how I rigged it up.
This will return to the underside of the tank via a 1" bulkhead in the overflow box, then to the tank via an OmniFlex nozzle. When I fired it up the it didn't work properly, although it tests out perfectly in a large basin. There's a problem somewhere in the return plumbing between the SUBV and the OM nozzle, I just can't seem to figure out where. There are no visible leaks anywhere. Maybe the riser tube inside the overflow box isn't seated well? I'll have to check that tomorrow. In the mean time, the pump is sitting idle in the sump.
