Setting up My 300 gal tank.

[Burnman19]

Hi, I am a new member of Reef Central. I want to Thank John for letting me join this group. So about 11 yrs ago Me and my wife built are dream home, with in mine of having a aquarium in our home. So by chance a friend of mine had found me a 300-gal tank for sale that was never used. 84" LGTH, 26" deep 30" Hgt. with built in
skimmer which has 2-2" holes and 2-1" in bottom for It. So, from what I have read and research I have done you need 5 X 10 GPH of flow for tank. My tank is built-in wall off my dining room, Living room area. I want to use 120-gal tank for my sump which will be in basement. I have 13' lift and 30' Horizontal run. I will be using long sweeps instead of 90. So here is my question for the group What size piping do I need for supply and return? and what would be the right GPH should be for this setup. I will be mostly having fish with live rock and some corals. I Appreciate any help or suggestions that the group and offer Thanks Burnman19

 

[JohnL]

Welcome to Reef Central. I'm sure some of our more experienced members will offer advice.

 

[Misled]

Welcome Burnman. Let's call the brain on drains, @BeanAnimal Hi Bill.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Higher turnover rates are favorable for many reasons but the distance to your sump is going to be limiting with noise, wattage and pipe size all coming into play.

I would shoot for around maybe 3x - 5x turnover and utilize 2x return pumps, both for redundancy and to reduce overall individual return pipe size. Things will be manageable with 1200-1500 gph. With the drop (siphon) you can easily go much higher, but the cost of the pumps and overall noise will be harder to combat. I would not go over 3000 gph. It will create too many issues with quickly diminished benefits for the cost and trouble.

If using the BeanAnimal style setup I would do as follows
Full siphon 1" drain converted to 1.5" pipe - control (gate valve) at sump level! With a 13" overall drop, this will easily do a several thousand gallons per hour.

Dry Emergency 2" bulkhead with 1.5" pipe to sump.

That leaves a 2" and a 1" hole. Depending on overall flow, I think either will work. You want 1.5" pipe coming off of this. I would try to slant this pipe so that the water runs down one side instead of free falling. If you can get away with the 1" that leaves the 2" that could be used for a return. The issue being that a lot of rework if the 1" is slightly undersized.

Pay attention to sump operating level and backflow. It will be considerable and check valves are going to fail one way or another.

Assume ~5 gallons for 40 feet of 1.5" pipe.
There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon.
Your tank is 2064 square inches - so ~9 gallons per inch of backflow.

I would count on ~30 gallons of backflow

A standard 120 with no baffles will rise about 1" per 5 gallons...

Hope that gives you a place to get started.

In tank powerheads, gyres, or whatever is where you tank flow will come from.

 

[Burnman19]

Well just want to thank you, for taking the time to answer my questions. I did plan on using 2 pumps in my sump.
Make a lot of sense. Do you have any recommendations on what type or brands of pumps that I should consider?
I believe in pay once cry once. Thanks again truly appreciate your time! Burnman 19

 

[BeanAnimal]

Your selection will be somewhat narrow based on the distance and head height. 13' of vertical head and ~50 feet of pipe and fittings is going to add up to somewhere in the ~20 foot of total headloss ballpark.

There are not many pressure rated DC Pumps -
Abyzz A200 ($2,500) is by all reports well suited to this task. Two if them are going to be insanely expensive.

A Reeflo Hammerhead would suffice as a single pump (and then some)

The Reeflo YellowTail pressure pump may be a better fit with (2) of them giving you great flow and redundancy.

A pair of Iwaki MD-70RT (or RZ) would likely do it. Super reliable pumps, but not super efficient. The MD-70 is ~350 watts.

We can look at pump curves all day long, but you may be well served by finding some folks with similar head head loss setups and get their real world experience. I like the Reeflo pumps, but some folks have had issues with the seals. A good Iwaki will run forever but they can be a bit loud for some folks - etc.

 

[Burnman19]

Thanks again Not to concern about noise due to there in basement and floor is spray foam. I will do my due diligence and try to talk with others who have similar set ups. Thanks so much for your time. once I get things up and running. I reach out to you let you know how I made out.
Burnman19

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

One of THE BEST WAYS to reduce head pressure is to put the sump on a well built bench.
There goes 3' of head.
This does another thing for you, it makes maintenance much easier so it gets done.