Help for sump pls. Its my first sump

[Ritesh]

Hi, im getting a 250 gallon aquarium and it will be stocked with 1 oscar,1 silver arowana,3 silver dollars and maybe some other fish in the future. The sump will be 4 foot long and 60 to 75cm wide with 3 separations. Will a 7000 l/h flow rate be enough or too much.

Thx

 

[Matteus]

Typically you want to aim for 10x turnover per hour as a general rule of thumb. So 2500g per hr is your aim.

not everyone wants their sumps to push this much water through it that fast, so often people (like myself) will also supplement with a canister (fx6)on top of the sump to both polish the water and also add more turnover.

 

[Backfromthedead]

For that size tank, I would set the overflow up with 2x 1.5" main drains and at least 1x 1.5" emergency drain. For return pumps I would go with 1 or 2 pumps rated for a total of around 20000 lph, or 6000 gph, at 0' head. Your system volume is actually around 270-300 gallons assuming the sump is 55-75 gallons, so you want your pumps to be easily capable of 10x turnover, 3000 gph, after considering head height and plumbing restrictions on the return line. I would use 1" flexible PVC or vinyl hose for your return lines.

Important to note this is just what I would do, there are many other ways to configure sumps. I prefer mine with higher turnover/more flow through the sump.

 

[duanes]

I use a 5500 liter per hour pump on a 185 gal tank, so in a 250 gal I don't think 7000 would be too much.
But ....you might not want the entire 7000 l/ph shooting out of just one port, because it may be too intense for species that prefer placid waters like oscars an arowana in one area.
You could use a manifold to spread flow to the tank across the width of the tank, similar to the crude DIY version I made below.
Flow
Using valve to throttle back flow, if there is too much is also an option.

You can also put a Tee and a valve on the influent to facilitate sending water outside or to a drain for semi automatic water changes.
When you want to do a water change, open the valve and old water is sent elsewhere.
I had a system like that, that sent old water to my garden, made a major water change last only a few moments.

 

[Ritesh]

Typically you want to aim for 10x turnover per hour as a general rule of thumb. So 2500g per hr is your aim.

not everyone wants their sumps to push this much water through it that fast, so often people (like myself) will also supplement with a canister (fx6)on top of the sump to both polish the water and also add more turnover.

I'm aiming for 5 to 6 times turnover to get enough contact time with media. Also I think 10000l/h might be too much for the fish

 

[Ritesh]

For that size tank, I would set the overflow up with 2x 1.5" main drains and at least 1x 1.5" emergency drain. For return pumps I would go with 1 or 2 pumps rated for a total of around 20000 lph, or 6000 gph, at 0' head. Your system volume is actually around 270-300 gallons assuming the sump is 55-75 gallons, so you want your pumps to be easily capable of 10x turnover, 3000 gph, after considering head height and plumbing restrictions on the return line. I would use 1" flexible PVC or vinyl hose for your return lines.

Important to note this is just what I would do, there are many other ways to configure sumps. I prefer mine with higher turnover/more flow through the sump.

Thx a lot. I'm aiming for around 6 times turnover and I'm using the same number and dimensions of pvc you mentioned. 10 times turnover will be too much flow for the arowana I think

 

[Oughtsix]

I use a Jebao DCP-20000 pump on my 180g tank. At full power the DCP-20000 is WAY to much flow so I run it at about 60% - 70% power level. My theory is it is better to buy too big and be able to cut the flow back rather than buying too small then have to later buy a larger pump when the flow isn't enough for your tank.

 

[Ritesh]

Yeah I'm getting a 8000l/h pump and some wave makers. I wanted to use a dc pump but I can't find any in my country. I could buy only but right now shipping is expensive. I might upgrade later