Basement sump folks ,,, got a question for ya

[Murphs205]

I have a 8x15 room with HVAC, electric , cable , drop ceiling /w lights already in place sitting there totally empty ,,but its a good bit away from my tank (200 gals) upstairs , it would be about a 8-10 ft vertical rise and a 25 ft horizontal run , my question is how much does the horizontal run take from the pump ?? i know the vertical run takes the most from the pump , im just not sure about the hormonal length. i need to figure out a pump for down there , or would it just be better to build a new room under my tank , it would cost more up front , but with a crazy big Hemi powered pump , it would pay off in the long run to build the room than to pay the extra electric for years to come , but i sure like the idea of not having to build that room, and do all the extra stuff HVAC, electric , cable , drywall crap , dust all over hauling it all in the house ....who runs a long return to their tank in here ?? fill me in on your situation and how its working for ya

Murph

 

[Kreeger1]

It's the up push that hurts the pumps gph, Horizontal you won't lose much at all. Same principal with ponds and water falls, the getting it over to the waterfall doesn't really take any gph off the pump its the how high is the falls part.
Erik

 

[Akronviper]

I forget the value but horizontal has very little effect on head, use the calculator on the main site it gives you head values taking in horizontal distances. My sump is about 20' horizontal and 12' vertical from my tank and my Gen X 40 is throtled back aprox. 1/2 way.

Edit: used tha\e calculator and at 20 you get 13.16' Head, 771 GPH. At 0' you get 12.77' head and 790 GPH with a MAK 4 pump

 

[itsme6582]

Horizontal Head Loss

Horizontal Head Loss

Reef Central has a head loss calculator that includes lots of variables (including horizontal distance). I don't know exactly how your setup will be but I plugged in some numbers. There is only a small difference with small pipe diameters. For the larger pipe diameters, the head loss is zero. This makes sense because (blah blah blah) horizontal movement only has to overcome shearing forces. Vertical movement has to also overcome the force due to gravity.

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

 

[Murphs205]

got it ,,,my Mag 18 will work for now , but im going to need to kick it up a notch. its approx 700 gph at the tank ,, i need a bit more turn over than that. it will work until i can get one bigger

 

[Kreeger1]

I've got a gen x pc40 that worked great from my basement...50 bucks if you want it

 

[Tonycip]

Don’t forget the head loss for all elbows and 45's. I would run the pipe and then try the mag 18, have it run into a 5gal bucket at the end and time it . To find out what you’re really going to get. I'm not sure the mag 18 will get the job done. Imo an external pump would be a better option.I use a blueline 70. to go up about 18' head with no problem at about 800gpm.which is more then my single return can accommodate .

 

[Kreeger1]

External is the way to go for sure. Not sure why people still use mag pumps in reef tanks? All that extra heat, use a ton of electric, and the technology is the same from 20 years ago on them. Just not a fan of Mag pumps.
Erik

 

[DiscoReefRover]

I agree I love my Reeflo pump quiet and cheap for a 3600 gph pump...my electric bill went down by going external and i added almost 500w of light too ..

 

[bosworth]

My tank is 15' (vertical) above and 55' (horizontal) from my basement sump and I have a Gen X PCX-100 producing around 700 GPH. The headloss calculator is pretty accurate neglecting the horizontal distance. You just need to worry about the PSI rating to make sure you can push the water volume through the entire distance. Thats where the horizontal portion comes in.