Sump Noob, Please advise...

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xEchOx

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2006
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I've got a 29g reef tank set up and I'm looking at putting together a 20g tall sump.

I want to use an overflow box because the tank isn't drilled and it's already nearly filled with corals so I don't want to break it down to have it drilled.

I'd like to know what size overflow box I would need and what size pump I would need.

I used a head loss calculator on reef central and it gave me this
Total losses are 3.81 feet of head pressure, or 1.65 PSI
Click to expand...
But to be honest I don't really know what that means.

I've been eyeing up the CPR continuous siphon overflow and the Eshopps overflow. I like the mag drive pumps, but the smallest they go is 500 gph which for me may be too much. The quiet one models go smaller, but I still need help matching it up to the overflow box. Any help is appreciated guys. :D
 
The overflow needs to flow more water than the pump can put back into the tank. This way all the extra water resides in the bottom of the sump. If the pump puts more water into the aquarium than the overflow can drain back into the sump the excess water will flow over the sides of the aquarium making a mess on your floor.

The overflow rating has to be higher than the pump flow rating at the height the pump will be pumping water. The overflow can flow a little more or a whole lot more than the pump... it just has to be able to handle more flow.

If the pump GPH rating is the same as the overflow GPH rating you should be fine because the pump will never achieve its GPH rating when it is lifting water from the sump into the tank. So if your overflow is rated at 500gph get a 500gph or smaller pump and you will be fine.
 
Just get an overflow box that is a higher gph than what the pump is. They cannot be too big. I've used cpr and Eshopps. They are both excellent but the only thing I didnt like about the cpr is I had the pump crap out on me once and the overflow wasnt working properly
 
for the cpr overflow make sure you got a luft pump or a power head with the air attachment connected to it, and to have it run periodically, i had a friend who ran it with a powerhead constantly and debris and food would always get stuck in that little airline and air would build up and break the siphon, also an airline checkvalve would also be a good idea. what you want is to maybe put the powerhead/luft pump on a timer. that way debris will pass thru when the powerhead is turned off and air will be sucked out when the pump is on. hope that wasnt too confusing.
 
I planned on getting the aqualifter pump they sell separately but is supposed to work with the overflow... will that be good enough?
 
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