LF opinion on my pump choice.

[Ed209]

Hello everyone. It's my first post here, but I've been reading this site for the last two days. The DIY section is the best I've seen.

I'm about to put together my first sump system. I've always used canisters and HOB but I picked up 6 25 gallon tanks with bulkheads for very little money. I thought I should put those bulkheads to use.

I'm going to use the 6 tanks as Tanganyikan growout tanks.

I have a plastic sump container(35 gallons) and I'm going to use nylon pot scrubbies in a 3 drawer sterlite container.

I was planning to use 3/4 PVC with a Mag-Drive 700.
Should I buy the pump bigger? like a Mag-drive 9.5?
I'm in Canada,so access to other pumps means ordering from the US and the shipping is usually very expensive.

I've attached a jpg of what the plumbing will be like.

There will be ball valves on each output,and on the "shortcircuit" to regulate flow if it's too high.
The two extra 90 degree fittings on the right are just to keep it all stable.
Thanks for any replies.

 

[Toby_H]

To be short about it... I think you will be much better off using two seperate pumps... one feeding each row of tanks...


The higher a pump has to lift water the less gph it will move (head loss). Here is a chart for Mag Drive pumps to calculate head loss - http://www.mops.ca/skus/wp/Danner_Flow_Chart.html

Also keep in mind the each turn reduces flow as well as the length of pipe. With the Mag 9.5 I still doubt you will be getting 100 gph per outlet, maybe quite a bit less.


Also, have you considered pumping water from the sump... to the top row of tanks... water flowing out the overflows in the top row into the tanks in the middle row... water flowing out the overflows in the middle row into the sump...

This would connect all the tanks to the sump allowing heating and bio filtration to be served as a single unit... then air powered sponge filters could be used to supplement mechanical filtration...

This approach would be well served with a Mag 7 or 9.5 (I would use the 9.5


Not long ago I had a 30 gal on bottom, 3x 10 gals in the middle, 30 gal on top... using the above described approach. My top 30 gal was at about 6.25' head and I used a 700 gph pump. The flow was fairly slow but I was happy with the performance.

 

[Ed209]

Thanks for that advise. Thats a good idea about just feeding the top three. It would save me three ball valves, and also save on the drain piping.
I'll do this instead of using two pumps.

The mag 7 only has a 1/2 outlet but I thought going to 3/4 pipe would help with the flow reductions. The mag 9.5 has 3/4 outlet.

I could order a Pentair Quiet One 4000- it has a 1 inch outlet and 600 gallons at 6 foot head. The money saved on ball valves should be enough for the larger pvc fittings.

Thanks again for the advise. I'm glad I posted here.

 

[Egon]

I have a few of the quiet one pumps, I'm very happy with them. As far as the pump outlets. If your pump has a 1/2" outlet you might as well stick with 1/2" plumbing. Going from 1/2" outlet to 3/4" pipe will create some turbulence inside the pipe causing some drag, also the 3/4" plumbing cost more.....

 

[Ed209]

I ordered a Quiet One 4000, it was 30.00 cheaper than the mag drive 7.

 

[Conner]

I ordered a Quiet One 4000, it was 30.00 cheaper than the mag drive 7.

Its a good pump, I have 4 of them myself. Its nice and quiet, low wattage for the gph, and gives a good gph at 6' of head. You should be happy with it.

 

[Ed209]

Thats good to know. I read another post from a longtime member recommending them.

Now I've got to build the rank,and put together a wet dry for the sump.

I think I might supply the sump with the wastewater from my RO unit,and have the sumps unused bulkhead drain any excess water into the sewer.
The chlorine is a big concern but I can run it through a carbon filter before it gets in the sump.
I think I have more fun doing the projects than watching the fish.
Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Ed209]

Looks like I won't need that extra carbon filter. My Dad just let me know,the waste water has already gone thru two carbon blocks in the RO unit.

 

[Ed209]

Well,this system has been going for about 10 months. I went with nc nutcase's idea but I've had a few problems with it.
After a power failure, the water flows into the top three tanks at different volumes.
Sometimes the left tank gets most of the water,sometimes the middle,other times it's the right tank. Result is an overflow because the 1 inch bulkhead can't handle all the flow.
I'm using ball valves but the flow is never the way it was before a power off situation.
Any ideas how to keep the flow equal to each of the three outlets?

I am considering upgrading the bulkheads to 2 inch or adding another 1 inch bulkhead to each tank.