How Slow Is Too Slow????

[persun87]

Hi Im new to sumps I have a 65 gallon cornerflow tank with a 20g long as the sump it is plumbed with 1-1/4" PVC underneath i had a mag seven on it and it was just pushing out to many bubbles so Iam now trying a quite one 1200 pump (295GPH) and i am afriad this is to slow is it possible to run water through the sump too slow? also does having it plumbed so that the 1/2 inch outlet on the pump goes into 1-1/4" pipe affect the pump out put and and all suggestions and comments would be nice. thankyou

 

[paveking1]

IS this a reef tank or fowlr , Either way you to turn the water over 30 to 40 times per hour I had a 75 with a mag 12 on it , It pushed out little bubbles , I fixed that bye putting some sponge around pump intake about 1" from intake all around , Take off the sponge on the mag, and make sure that nothing is makeing bubbles before it gets to pump ,Skimmer can make alot of bubbles , make sure to diffuse them before they get there. Good luck.

 

[Zoophile]

Water can be moved through the sump and return at 3-5 times the water volume in gallons per hour. The rest of the water flow can be made up through the use of powerheads in the main tank.

 

[persun87]

so do you guys think ill be ok its almost like a trickle with the head hight it should be pushing just over 200 gph but wasnt sure if the bigger diameter of pvc affects this or now it almost seems to be equvilent to the amount of water a maxi 400 pushes out

 

[paveking1]

Im thinking you can reduce the pipe down for more flow or just increase the pump size. Either way its like a catch 22 .

 

[persun87]

so do you guys think ill be ok its almost like a trickle with the head hight it should be pushing just over 200 gph but wasnt sure if the bigger diameter of pvc affects this or now it almost seems to be equvilent to the amount of water a maxi 400 pushes out

 

[Zoophile]

Check out this calculator on the home page of RC and plug in your numbers-- http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

Your flow might be a little bit slow, but I wouldn't bother running out to buy a new pump. It really depends on how high your pump is having to push the water. If you figure you've got plenty less water volume than 85 gal. because of rocks and such, you're probably fine.

If it really bugs you, buy another when you've got the cash and save this one for a backup.

 

[sjm817]

Using the 3 - 5x number, that is ~ 200 - 325 GPH for your system. Some people run 1 - 1.5X. I think you will be fine. The use of the larger plumbing will help the flow, although is overkill for that size pump. You could also use the mag7 and swap out the impeller and turn it into a Mag5 ($9) if you want a flow level in between the two.

 

[persun87]

just switching to that impeller will slow it down it fits right and everything?

 

[sjm817]

Yes. The Mag3/5/7 are all the same pump body. The only difference is the impellers and front cover. Drop in the impeller and you have a mag5.