Need a quiet basement pump - help!

D

dtaranath

Premium Member
Does anyone have any experience with basement pumps? I am currently using an old Barracuda, and I have it throttled down. It's very loud; perhaps because it's pretty old?

Does anyone else have a basement sump and a quiet pump? Which one do you use? I see some mention about the Velocity T4 and Panworld. I need to get a new pump to replace this Barracuda, and I'm looking for something quiet.

Any recommendations!
 
Have a Cuda return, it's loud but since it's in the fish room and with the door hardly hear it in the rest of the basement.

Had be trading e-mails a while back with Reeflo, they were suggesting using a modified Dart for a basement return. Got one directly below the tank on the main floor, won't say silent but very quiet.
 
If its in the basement you will want to use a T3, not a T4. T3 is pressure rated to 28 feet. T4 is flow pump only good to about 15 feet. They are discontinued but you can still pick them up on sale. Try Champion Lighting.

I have 2 of them on my system. One in garage (sump/chiller) pumping to display on 2nd floor and one under stand on 2nd floor (closed loop). Both are absoultely silent. You have to put your hand on it to know that it is running.

If you cant locate one then look up Laing. That is the company that makes them. They are actually spa pumps.
 
The T3 and T4 really have ~ the same flow. I've used both of them as basement pumps and didn't see a difference. The flow curve charts are wonky. Also, if you look, until you get to the extreme limit of the head, the T4 has more flow, but again, I think the curves they show are not right. They are both the same pump with different fitting sizes.
 
I have a blue line 100 hd and am very happy. Quiet and plenty of power to run 2 tanks and 2 reactors. I still have some of the flow cycling in the sump, lots of flow out of this pump.
 
I used 3 different pumps for my basement sump.

Gen-X Mak4:
Very loud-decent flow-low power use

T3 and T4:
Dead Silent-low flow-most power use for GPH produced-heated water which was good for the basement sump-saved me heater electricity use

PS150:
Not silent, but not loud like the Mak4-Most flow-most power use

The noise level of the pump was not a big deal since the sump was in an unfinished part of the basement anyway. The T4 pump was handy in cold months to heat the water without so much electricity use from the heaters.
 
sjm817 said:
I used 3 different pumps for my basement sump.


T3 and T4:
Dead Silent-low flow-most power use for GPH produced-heated water which was good for the basement sump-saved me heater electricity use
Click to expand...

Did you see any differences between the T3 and T4? Like I said, I have a bout 15' up and 10' over to go. I'm wondering if I should think about leaning towards the T3 because of the higher head pressure indication.

What do you think?
 
None. They are the same pump. I even called Laing to inquire about the pumps. They didn't know anything about a "T3" or "T4". That is how the aquarium people sell them. They said the pump is available with several different housing sizes and materials. I saw no difference in flow. I would raise your sump up off the floor to reduce the height. This will make a large difference in the flow and make the sump better to work with. Mine was on a 3' tall bench which put it ~ 10' to the top of the display. I used 1" spa Flex plumbing to minimize connections. I didn't like the look pf the T3 housing. The 3/4" outlet is very restrictive compared to the 1" T4, but again, I couldn't tell the difference in flow.
 
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Because the charts are wrong? You are welcome to use my first hand experience using the pumps in an identical basement sump setup and my conversations with the manufacturer or not. I've also had both pumps apart and there is no difference between them other than the black plastic housing. Smaller size flow fittings are never good for GPH. Either pump will work fine, but again, reduce the head height as much as possible. This will make more of a difference than the 3/4" Vs 1" fitting size. If it makes you more comfortable, get a T3. I wouldn't use either pump approaching 16' head. They are not that strong a pump. Look at the size of the pump compared to a Mak4

DSC_3928.jpg


Btw, what is the display and sump size?
 
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thanks so much for the input! I'm more concerned with the sound than the flow. I will try one of them out and see how it goes. I have two vortechs for the flow in the tank itself.
 
Sound...you will be amazed. You plug it in. You hear a faint "whoosh" when the water starts to flow and that's it. You have to touch it tell its running.

I will say it again though. If you are pushing 15', I would be hesitant to use one. 10 -12' is about as far as I would go.
 
mkart said:
I have a blue line 100 hd and am very happy. Quiet and plenty of power to run 2 tanks and 2 reactors. I still have some of the flow cycling in the sump, lots of flow out of this pump.
Click to expand...

Double agree, Basement sump and I have two blue line's one for the return (100 hd) and a smaller one for the skimmer. To make them even more quiet I mounted them to the bench using vibration isolation dampers. You can check out the mount on my thread page 20. Scroll down to the bottom to see the pump installation. Makes these pumps ultra quiet.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1975251&page=20
 
nuclearheli said:
Double agree, Basement sump and I have two blue line's one for the return (100 hd) and a smaller one for the skimmer. To make them even more quiet I mounted them to the bench using vibration isolation dampers. You can check out the mount on my thread page 20. Scroll down to the bottom to see the pump installation. Makes these pumps ultra quiet.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1975251&page=20
Click to expand...

Looking forward to reading your thread; it's almost exactly what I'm doing now - upgrading my 90 mixed reef to a 210 with a basement sump! Thanks for the insight.
 
Well, I finally got a T4 and a blueline 55. I hooked up the T4 and it is perfect! No sound whatsoever, and just the right amount of flow... not too much, not too little. I'll be using the Blueline as a backup.

Thanks for all of your help!
 
Glad it worked out. Isn't it crazy how silent the T4 is? Nothing like it. The Blueline 55 is also a really nice pump but is very different. It will have A LOT more flow than the T4. Its pretty quiet for the class of pump, but not like the T4.
 
plus, I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the extra heat the T4 will provide since I'm using the pump in a basement sump.
 
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