Parallel sump ?

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waynes world

waynes world

Candiru
MFK Member
Oct 12, 2010
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North Manchester UK
Hi all, still in the planning stage of my 1300g tank, i am upto thinking on the filter set up, now it will be sump, obviously, now what i am looking at is the low power pond pumps for the return pumps from the sump. Low powr as in 600w down to 200w as in these type

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jebao-Sub...ondsWaterFeatures_UK&var=&hash=item53ee847480

I have been told, although the head at 1.5m is not bad on the loss of LPH, they are not the best and the specs are are a LITTLE out.

Other pumps are around the 600w but higher head, all i need is 1.5m for a sum p be in the usual position and lower than the tank base.

Now the idea is to have the sump at the same level as the tank but the tank have bottom or very low side drains up into the filter, with larger than normal pipe work, i will have a look into the size pipe work i would need on the other thread.

Would the filter work in parallel with enough/correct pipe work diameter?

thanks

wayne
 
Having the sump same height is not a problem. But you should Definitley have an overflow style standpipe for the intake side of the filter, if you draw water from the bottom your pump won't be able to compensate for all 1300 gallons trying to push it's way into the sump, as for the returns you'll probably only be able to run the return and feed back from the too of the tank for the same reason. All the weight of the water will push back on the pump if you have it feeding to it from below.


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Thanks for the reply Xia, yes i didnt add the stand pipe in the drawing but good point on the return being higher due to water pressure, i added both or two returns just to show where i would put them, but glad you mentioned that;)

Cheers, this will save me loads on electric :)
 
I see you are not using overflows. What will prevent the main tank from running dry in the event your return pump fails?
 
waynes world said:
Thanks for the reply Xia, yes i didnt add the stand pipe in the drawing but good point on the return being higher due to water pressure, i added both or two returns just to show where i would put them, but glad you mentioned that;)

Cheers, this will save me loads on electric :)
Click to expand...

No problem! Hope the setup goes without problems, it'll save on electric and shouldn't drop the flow too much since there's very little head pressure!


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Smart of you to design the filtration so that your system will have very low head pressure. Since you will have such low head, you definitely do not need a high pressure pump.

I am still a big fan of Laguna pumps. I've been running their largest model on my setup for ~3 years; it's runs quiet and it is very energy efficient.

You don't say what type of flow you are looking for, but if you put the Laguna up against the Jebao pumps, the Lagunas comes out being more efficient.

Once you decide what you'd like your flow to be, I would suggest running two smaller pumps to achieve that flow, versus one large pump. Believe it or not, running two smaller pumps can be more energy efficient than running one large pump and it also has the added benefit of redundancy- if one pumps fails, the other pump will keep your system running.

If you let me know what type of flow you are looking to achieve and what you believe your actual head pressure will be, I can run the numbers and make a suggestion as to the optimal pumps to use.
 
When i worked out how much it will cost to run i wasnt impressed so looked for cheaper options, even if i had to replace the pumps evry year or so it will be cheapr than hundreds on a powerful pump and running cost of it. I have given this link to another thread over here on a UK forum, bit useless over on decent tanks :)

The plan is to use min two return pumps, i am looking at 6-8 x TO, i know what you mean on having two pumps, as i always have min two heaters, i only have a 550l ( 120g UK ) at the min but have two of all to be on the safe side, can never say when one will pack in.

The link to see what you think, i have a thread on here about it but the site wont let me go to My Threads etc for some reason, i have asked the Admin but no reply. And will take ages to dig through all thread to find it. So hope this works.

http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/index.php?topic=106497.0

Thanks for the help.

wayne
 
So at 6 to 8x turnover on a 1,300 gallon tank you are looking for a pump that will deliver somewhere between 7,800 and 10,400GPH.

I would suggest going with two Laguna Max Flo 4200 (I believe they are sold as Maxflo 16000 across the pond). This is the pump I am using on my tank and I have been very happy with it.

Assuming you have 2' of head, two Laguna Maxflo 4200s will push 7,672GPH while using only 320 watts. If you find that you want more flow, you could add a third pump, but I think 6 to 8x turnover on a 1,300 tank is overkill. I run just over 2x turnover on my (770G) tank and I have been very happy with water clarity and quality (no ammonia or nitrite readings).

I think the turnover that two Max Flow 4200s provide will be plenty for your setup.
 
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