Return Pump Suggestions

[moogoos]

So I am looking to moving the sump and building a fuge in the basement when I switch tanks

The tank will be a 120G with a herbie overflow I think with a 1" drain, 1" emergency and a 1" return.

The tank will be about 5' off the floor.
The drains will run down through a hole then over about 40' to an area in my basement where I can put the sump (44G Synergy) and 70G rubbermaid trough fuge.
The floor of the basement, where I plan to put the return pump is about 6' below the ceiling there, pretty low ceiling.

Overall my initial plan is tank > 4' off the floor sump (skimmer, bio, filters) > fuge 1' off the floor > return pump on a board near the floor.

That's the initial idea, still planning it out and trying to understand the bits to plan for. I don't plan to add a lot of things to the line. I will probably keep the bio/carb and such on its own pumps off the sump table.

So what kind of flow should I look for with about 10' of head and a 40' horizontal line to a 120G?

Thanks!

C

 

[Mashaw]

L1 for the win

 

[ca1ore]

You'd want a net flow of around 500 gph for that tank. Lots of pump choices, though the less expensive ones like Vectra don't do well with head pressure.

 

[jkapit]

I would use the head loss calculator on the home page to figure out how much flow you will get depending on the pump you choose. I only have experience with AC pumps and use twin Iwaki 55RLTs for my 180 with abou 20ft head pressure. Sounds like a single Iwaki 55RLT or comparable Panworld would work.

I've run my Iwaki for 12 years, clean it every 3 years and works great. A little power hungry at 130watts but does the job. Also, not the quietest but ideal for a basement sump.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Check out marine depot or bulk reef supply for pan world pressure rated pumps.

 

[moogoos]

So is this saying I'll get 900GPH on this pump at the output to the tank? Not sure what the head number means, but maybe this is a total lost because of all the bends, valves and height measured in head loss?

C

 

[moogoos]

L1 for the win

I wish I could agree. I have an M1 that took a crap just from cleaning it. The controller which I didn't even touch freaked out. They sent me a new pump instead of the controller so had to wait another week to get the right part. Then it worked @40% for a week. Every time I tried to calibrate it over 40% it would shut off/on spin up off/on. Now they're replacing the PSU and I have to wait 5 more days.

Never going to use them for a return pump again. Too complicated and don't need all the featuresa dn the fact it took a crap from cleaning just the pump causes me concern. They also chosse not to be Apex compatible which to me is poor form. Their support hung up on me in a transfer and when I tried calling back over the next hour their system wasn't working. I've had to put my card down 3 times for a $1 deposit and it's taken me a month to maybe get back up and running. We'll see Tuesday. If the pump does work with a new PSU I'm going to sell it.

 

[moogoos]

The calculator seems pretty dated. I was thinking I'd go for a Dolphin but the tool doesn't have any of the current models really.

I'll have about 240G of total water.
27.62 feet of head pressure, or 11.93 PSI
I was originally thinking the Red Dragon 150 but it says I'll get about 528GPH.
Is 5-10x water volume still ideal?
I thought the RD 150 was a beast but it seems maybe not under this config or is the tool not accounting for something here?

 

[Breadman03]

I'm running a RD3-230 with about 12-15 feet of head to feed my 150 from the basement sump. I suspect that the 150 will be fine. The RD's are great, but aren't pressure rated.

Also, you only need to consider display volume, not total system volume.

 

[McGarnicle]

Last week I was dead set on buying the L1 but after reading reviews about issues and poor performance I pulled the trigger on the eFlux DC Flow Pump 3170 for my 120g.

Don't have it hooked up yet but looks and feels like a quality pump, time will tell though.

http://current-usa.com/pumps/eflux-dc-flow-pumps/

 

[moogoos]

I think I am going to go with an Iwaki 100RLT. It seems to be plenty and comes with a 1" out which matches my return bulkhead. If it's too much, which I'm hoping it may be, I'm thinking I'll just split off into the fuge or run it off a manifold and a chiller or something as well. Good price and pretty quiet from what I can gather and good reliability overall.

 

[bami82]

My first Vectra L1 broke within a year, plastic completely melted around the magnet. Got a new one (good service), its been 3 months, cleaning it yesterday and found out plastic start to melt again. Contacting EcoTech again but I would stay away from these pumps, very disappointing.

Oh and I am not the only one with this issue: Vectra broke after just 1 year/

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

sump (skimmer, bio, filters) > fuge 1' off the floor

Good idea, you get 1 foot less of head. I have a 100g stock tank... wondering what you will use to raise it off the floor?

OTOH if you live in the north where basement floors are cold, sump on the floor cools off the water significantly and you might be missing out on avoiding a chiller.

 

[scooter31707]

I love my Simplicity return pump. Very quiet and powerful. Didn't break the bank and the flow is adjustable for your liking.