Sump Pump Question. I know I know ANOTHER ONE!!!

[djkron]

Ok I have a 50 Gallon cichlid tank and I have just finished modding a sump tank that will be apprx 10-20 gallons. (the whole thing wont be full of water its a wet dry trickle)

I have looked around the LFS and they are all the same, buy this 150+ dollar pump.

I know better. I want your opinions on a good quality low noise, preferably low cost pump that HAS low level shut off or thermal protection.

My current HOB Filter is only 300 gph and to be honest it just doesnt do the job so I want to at least double to 600+ gph to help the filtering process.

Reason I need the shut off is I am designing the pump to sit only a few inches below water so incase I lose my syphon I do not have my main tank overflow. So I want to make sure it has the auto off so it doenst burn itself out.

I have looked at ehims, marinland and quiet ones. All seem to have the good and bad reviews.

Let me know what you think of these pumps and if you have a good one to recommend let me know

 

[Bderick67]

You will also need to take head height into consideration. A 600gph pump with only pump 3-400gph if it has to pump the water upwards for 5 feet.

To remedy your other concern, you can intall an inline check valve. This way if power goes out you would have no backflow through the return line.

 

[Mavrick813]

You will also need to take head height into consideration. A 600gph pump with only pump 3-400gph if it has to pump the water upwards for 5 feet.

To remedy your other concern, you can intall an inline check valve. This way if power goes out you would have no backflow through the return line.

 

[djkron]

sorry my head height is going to be no more than 5 feet.

I know the pressure will drop with head height, I was looking for a pump that can do 600gph at 5 feet,

Any idea on a quality brand that has the auto off? The only ones I have found are marineland, and its only a thermal protection circuit, the quiet ones can be cooled by air of water, I asked the manufacturer and he said it will just keep running whether or not it is submerged

Thanks!!!

 

[Mavrick813]

A Mag Drive 9.5 should push between 650 - 750 GPH at 5 Ft head height.

Mike

 

[djkron]

thanks mike do u happen to know if that one has the auto off? or is that something I really dont need?

I will be using an overflow box and a check valve on the return line to the tank.

 

[Mavrick813]

You can get a Watch Dog from HD for like $45.00.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[djkron]

thanks I will look into it, I am up in canada so I am searching now

 

[leather]

Thats the route I would go, with a float switch. I think you are worrying about the wrong thing here though, I have had my pumps running out of water for a long time already and had no ill effects. I have an overflow drain in my sump and a constant 1 gph water line in. When the power goes out my tanks drain down about an inch and it goes out of the overflow, my pump then runs out of water when the power comes back on. It is sitting in probably 2 inches of water though because that is where the intake is. It will then run mostly dry until the makeup water raises the water in the sump or I hear it doing that because I was home for the power outage.
Your biggest problem is going to be loss of filtration if you shut off your pump.
Also I use the cheap tetra pumps from Lowes for a lot of my tanks. You might want to reasses the 500 or 600 gph rating though. Your hob has only 300 gph but that is just a hob, there isn't near the filter media capacity in it. You don't need a huge amount of flow to make a good filter. You need the proper filtration whether it is mech or bio. A 300 gph sump in a 50 gallon tanks should be plenty, as long as you have the media.

 

[badlad53]

I know lots of people hate them but I love the odysea 1500... have had one running for over 8 years with no problems... they can be run submerged or inline... plenty of smaller ones available too. As far as how much flow you actually need... just make sure the water being pumped back into the tank is absolutely as clean as possible. Many ways to do this even with very little flow (the rull of turning over 4x or 6x the tanks volume means little if the filter doesn't have the capacity to deal with your bioload). Anything over the ammount required to purify your water is simply to create current (many fish like current) and to increase O2 saturation...