return pump power

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want2findnemo

want2findnemo

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 11, 2008
Messages
205
Hi ive been looking around for something that shows me how to calculate what power my return pump should be.

I stumbled apon

Reef Central Online Community

But i dont know which formula i need to use because I dont see one that allows me to put in the size of my hole (1.5) and the length of my pvc pipe down to the sump.

I read after searching "pump" in this forum that I need to calculate my "maximum overflow rate"

How do i do that?



ImageShack - Hosting :: rturnyn5.jpg

(I dont have one of those boxes that the water overflows into, i just have one of those cone shaped things that is screwed onto a hole that is 1.5inc diameter)

Also people will similiar situations (75gDT) (30gsump) are using a product called MAG 7 or MAG9. So i just need to know the GPH pump power i need.

If anyone can help or point me out in the right direction that would be great!


Thanks in advanced.
 
The first thing to look at is your drain hole. You said the hole is 1.5". Is that the size of the actual hole or the size of the pipe? (btw...that is going to be very loud when the tank is running). 1.5" pipe will let you drain about 1200 gph, 1" pipe is about 600 gph.

Now use the head loss calculator. Enter the info for your return line plumbing. You want to result to be less than what your tank can drain. For example, you don't want to have 800 gph after head loss and only a 600 gph drain.
 
It's not the size of the pipe that will cause the noise, it's the water that will be gurgling down that strainer.

Don't down size your plumbing.
 
cccapt said:
Don't down size your plumbing.
Click to expand...


Does that mean my return piping should also be 1.5" ?

Or can I make it 1 or 1.25?

Cuz I noticed the biggest size mostly in HD or other stores is 1.25...
 
Danner Mag-Drive Supreme 5 500 GPH Water Pump (Saltwater Aquarium Supplies > Water Pumps > Submersible > 500-1000 GPH )

My Drain line is 1" PVC and my return line is 3/4" vinyl tubing it works great. I wouldn't get anything less than that. 1.5" Drain line and 1" return line would be even better. Using flexible vinyl tubing prevents having restricted flow hard PVC elbows will slow the flow and its bad for the return pump. and The bigger the drain line the better so you don't have to worry about whether or not the drain line can keep up with the flow or not.

Hope this helps
 
You need to stop and rethink this. The calculator you used tell you how much flow you should have in your tank from all sources (return pump and power heads).

The hole that is 2" from the top of your tank is a drain hole. It is meant to drain water from the tank to a sump below the tank. You then need a pump to return water from the sump to the tank. That pump needs to match or be rated slightly less than the gallons per hour (gph) of your drain pipe. If the pipe from the hole in your tank is 1" in diameter then it can drain 600 gph. If is 1.5" then it can drain 1200 gph. You need to find a pump that does not exceed the drain capacity. Pumps are rated for a gph flow at 0' head height and decrease in efficiency for every foot they need to raise the water to get back to the tank. A MAG7 is rated at 700gph at 0' of head height (HH) and 500gph at 3' of HH.

Does that help at all?
 
Phew glad your here,

Ok so if my hole is 1.5inch, your saying that the flow into my sump (4 feet below) is 1200gph.

So I have to find a pump that at 4 feet head height (which is the amount of height above the pump that it must pump to) will be close to 1200 but not over 1200.


Did I understand your correctly?


If I understand correctly then, I need somthing that can do close to 1200 when it has to pump 4-5 feet upwards.

Which looking at this chart...


ImageShack - Hosting :: magpr6.jpg


ImageShack - Hosting :: mag2uk6.jpg


...is Mag9.5 or Mag12


Thanks for being patient with me, I know Im slow.
 
Last edited:
Yes, BUT your diagram shows a 1" pvc running from the 1.5" drain hole down to the sump. That would normally be correct. You would have a 1.5" hole with a bulkhead fitting that reduced it to a 1" drain (600 gph). You have one 90 degree turn in there too, so that drops it by a few per cent. In this case a Mag8 would be perfect.
 
wouldn't a mag9 be too powerfull for a 1" drain line? and are you referring to a mag7 I didn't know they made a mag8 is it a model other than the Danner line up? doesn't it go mag7/ mag 9.5/ mag 12 with the mag9.5 you would want 1.5" drain line
 
Also your return line will affect your flow rating.

The Mag pump has a 1/2" male fitting I started by adding 1/2" hard PVC pipe that adapted to a small vinyl tubing section that adapted to A flow director that had a slip on connector. I learned the hard PVC was restricting my flow because of the hard elbows. So I changed it to 3/4" vinyl tubing (you may want to do 1") So I have a piece that adapts the 1/2" pump thread to 3/4" vinyl tubing then at the top of the tank I have the vinyl tubing attached to Locline plumbing flow director setup that I ordered online. My flow increased dramatically.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/increased-flow-causing-overflow-issue-102704.html there is a photo on this thread.
 
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