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Quick question...

fleabilly

Member
Joined
9 Sep 2012
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147
Location
London
When trying to gauge the size pump I need for an aquarium (133l) do I also need to take into consideration the sump volume as well? (80l)

Cheers

R


Sent
 
I would. Always better to overgun the flow as it's easy to turn down but the only way to increase is to buy a bigger pump. With a sump you must also take into account the static head the pump is working against to lift the water from the sump water height to the display tank's water surface.
 
Cheers,
Is there a formula to work this element into the mix?
The flow only needs to go up about 30mm with no bends.
I was going to get the largest pump possible, and then t off a valve to adjust the flow. Just looking for some reassurance.

Also another quick one.
I have a tank drilled from the bottom with small bulkheads that I was going to run overflow pipes out of. I am concerned that they are too small, and will also be noisy. I also happen to have a couple of very large bulkheads from America (2 3/8 hole / 1 1/2 pipe size).
Would it be overkill to drill and run a those as overflow pipes? (38mm conversion diameter) the way I figure, is that if it is an open sump system, as long as the flow out of the the tank is more than what goes in, I should be ok.

I am drawing up some plans, that I can post on the site, hopefully someone out there could help.

R




Sent
 
Working out the flow with a given head is possible if you have the performance curve of the pump and can work out the frictional head from all the piping (usually you can estimate this) to add to the static head.

How is your sump's water level only 30mm below the water level in your display tank? Is it at the side of the tank?

You're looking at a 200l set up so I'd be looking for a 2,000lph pump if there was no or little head, possibly double that if your sump is under the tank. However flowing all that water through small pipe will mean it will be more likely to be noisy - go for the largest diameter you can within reason.
 
It is all still on the drawing board.
But the tank is 61cm x 51cm footprint.
The base is about 70cm high made of 18mm birch ply.
I was hoping to build an acrylic sump almost the same size as the tank in the space below. The tank has been drilled as I mentioned, and I will be drilling two larger overflow holes for a couple of 1 1/2 inch bulkheads. And yes a typo I meant that I wanted to have the sump 30cm below the tank.

R


Sent
 
It is all still on the drawing board.
But the tank is 61cm x 51cm footprint.
The base is about 70cm high made of 18mm birch ply.
I was hoping to build an acrylic sump almost the same size as the tank in the space below. The tank has been drilled as I mentioned, and I will be drilling two larger overflow holes for a couple of 1 1/2 inch bulkheads. And yes a typo I meant that I wanted to have the sump 30cm below the tank.

R

The static head will be from the water level in the sump to the top water level in the display tank so even if you keep the sump inly 30cm below the base of the aquarium (tricky to do when you will need the thickness of the stand too) you will still have 30cm plus of water depth in the display tank and you will want to leave some space at between the normal running water level in the sump and the top of it to take the draw down water when you switch the pump off. This will mean at least around a 70cm static head, plus whatever frictional resistance of the pipework and bends.

Compare this to an external filter with a zero static head (as it's a sealed container taking water in and out of the same body of water) and you can see why you'd need to get a more pwerful pump. IME/O the Ehiem pumps are a good starting point.
 
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