What size pump?

xian

Premium Member
I'm eventually going to need a return pump for my new system. I plan on needing a pump that can handle 12 feet of head pressure. Suggestions?
 
there are those "baracuda" types. They just came out with some pressure rated ones I believe. How big is the tank going to be? From all I've heard- even with a basement sump, you will want some intank flow= there are a lot of good inexpensive options out there now. Else it is too much flow through the sump for your skimmer to be effective.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7425347#post7425347 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaelg
there are those "baracuda" types. They just came out with some pressure rated ones I believe. How big is the tank going to be? From all I've heard- even with a basement sump, you will want some intank flow= there are a lot of good inexpensive options out there now. Else it is too much flow through the sump for your skimmer to be effective.

Those are the sequence pumps I've heard good things but they are pricey. I guess I need to know what pressure rating I need to use. The tank is a 125 I was planning on using powerheads for in tank flow.

How do I balance in tank flow from the return with effective skimming?
 
maybe 2 small units on sea swirls or other osilatore type......if u have the money, wheres the sump area in location to the tank ???

have a much bigger system but if u call the mail order places then can help u out they have helped me all the time and the recomidations are usuall pretty good so long as u tell them what u want to do, if u nedd a company shoot me a line i will let u know.....

mines puping around with 500 gallons of saltwater and 2 small tanks and my 180 and I still have to back it down a little ( always go a little biggerif u can then u wantto a little extra play in pressure i think)
 
The sump is going to be in the basement which means that I'm dealing with approximately 14 ft of head pressure from vertical rise alone. I've been looking for a used hammerhead and I found one for 230 shipped.

Is there another brand I should consider? What are you using?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7425347#post7425347 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaelg
Else it is too much flow through the sump for your skimmer to be effective.

How is that?
 
well it should not go through your skimmer should be a seperate pump, or collect the water in a tub and make a hole for a skimmer pump........

the pump i use is a Reef Flo---Hammerhead Model......

really good not much heat, good pump i have it in my basement and it pumps 2 small gallon tanks in me basement and my 180 up staeirs and I still have to dial it back.......I am just using the pump for cirulation thats it, all I would recomend other wise u'r skimming the same water over eand over again.....bought mine from a place in California called Custom Aquatic.........good people a little Exp. but very helpful, they have a web site if u search on yahoo......http://www.customaquatic.com/

peace for now
mike

ps if u need to see or want help in plumbing it let me know............
 
Vin- there is a general concensus that the skimmer input needs a certain amount of time with the input water to have full impact. I think it was some of Calfo's articles that elaborated on this... Basically if water turnover is too high the skimmer doesnt't have much time to work on the input water and will thus be less effecient...... to be honest, never really tested it, as I dont pay near the attention that I do to looking and the corals and fish.
that said, I don't think this is nearly the issue as having a slower flow through the refugium. Personally, a pump to do the job at a moderate price, coupled with some of the more economical methods of moving water in tank ( for which tunze does not qualify) is a more practical method. If that sump pump is the sole source of flow, then if it dies, the tank will be in trouble.
 
The whole idea for the basement sump is ease of maintenance, temp regulation and additional water volume. I never planned on using the main pump for my sole source of circulation. I plan on adding at least one more seio and building two maxistreams. In addition to that I will be keeping the circulation pumps from my 55 (two maxijet 1200s with hydor flo and 1 seio 820) That way I won't break the bank on my initial setup

The consensus for this application seems to be the reefflo hammerhead. I'll pick one up when I start getting paid for summer school. The hammerhead should be able to handle the job and power a couple eductors.

The other big purchase for this project remains the skimmer. If I buy an ASM g4x for this system I will not have the ability to plum the skimmer outside of the sump but I could place it in a smaller container connected to a single overflow. I think that this is what anthony reccomended in his talk at MACNA.

In addition to that I was planning on using my existing 55 as a refugium. I could drain the other overflow into that and have both drain into the main sump.

What do you think?
 
i have all my stuff drain into a 45 gallon gar. pail then i devert that water to a skimmer (pump) ,refugia (2-45gallonplastictanks),The 45 gallon gar. pail also feeds the 2 refugia, witch drain into the Vat100g(no skim or filtraion st, tru.). The skimmer clean water goes to the Vat, along with all my other stuff., the 2 heatrers, bioballs to knock out bubbles, calicum reactor input, Kalk in here, ground probe, fresh water make up all day off my Automatic RO sytem.
Extra over flo goes to a 100black vat.

the 2 20 gallon tanks are pumped off the hammer head, drain into the 45gallon garbage pail

the hammer head is mounted to the vat, on oppsite end of all the other sy=tuff, and feeds back up stairs too, maybe 25 feet total...

the vat is where all my water goes if the power is interupted (3 tanks and all head pressure from the pipes...(alot of water so make it More then u need :) ))

mind u the whole system is 450 (+/-) gallons....

if u give me ur email i can send u some pics if u like?
peace,

mike
 
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