SUMP Idea, need approval

[Guest]

I dont exactly feel like spending $50-100 for an overflow box so I was thinking the other day and came up with this idea. I have a CA 1400 pump/powerhead. I bought it for my protein skimmer but then realized what else I could do with it. If I buy two pumps, I can have one to bring water up to the tank from the sump, and one to pump water out of the tank and into the sump, now in my mind this should work out evenly if I use the same kind of pumps. But I am not sure if any other factors will interfere such as gravity, water pressure, etc. This would save me up to $50 by not buying an overflow box and seems full proof to me.

I just thought I should get "approval" from you guys out here. I want to make sure there won't be any problems before I go ahead.

 

[Todd2]

What if one of the pumps fails? Then you'll end up with water on the floor or a dry sump. You could make an overflow box from some acrylic and pvc or plastic. Here's a site with lots of DIY stuff. http://ozreef.org/diy/

 

[Guest]

ARGHHHH!!!!!! Why, oh WHY did you have to tell me that!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO really though why?

JK....(I hope so), thanks for the advice, really appreciate it, although I was on a role with the idea but it should be better this way....

- $imple

 

[fishfreek]

THe ods you will find two pumps that pump exactly the same rate are low. Therefor you will end up with a pump that pumps out more water than your return brings in or a return that pumps more than your drain pumps out.

If you dont want to spend the $ on a good overflow then you could try your hand at building one. Honestly I wouldnt skimp on the overflow. This is one thing that you will quickly regret going cheep on when you have to clean up after a flooding event.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I am going to have to get an overflow box. Oh well, money well spent is money saved.

 

[Casimir]

Assuming you have two "identical" pumps, just the fact that they are pumping with two different head pressures will make them unbalanced.

 

[Crawling68]

Even after getting an overflow box and sump, i told my girlfriend we should have got a tank with a built-in overflow. So we need a new tank, and if you getting a new one, might as well be bigger too(hehehehe).

 

[Scottcenfla]

Two exact pumps will never be equal. Vacuum vs. pressure are two different animals. You can take two pumps of equal output and they will never work in conjunction with each other due the properties that vacuum has a much higher potential of volume than pressure does.

These properties are true in both pneumatics (air), and liquids. For some reason vacuum has a much greater potential for volume than the pressure (output). There is a formula for it, but least I can't sipher it.