Newbie Plumbing Question

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sevise

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
184
Location
NY
I'm in the process of researching for my first sw aquarium. It will be a 120gal FOWLR, with a sump and fuge hidden under it. I know that the general rule of thumb is to have 10X the water volume turned over per hour. So theoretically I should turn over 1200gph. Which is good because the overflows for the tank are 1200gph. Now that I know I can get 1200gph into the sump/fuge/filters how do I get it back up?

Can the pump that runs the protein skimmer return water to the tank or should it dump it back into the sump?

Is it best to have all 1200gph run into the fuge or should some of the circulation be a result of only some powerheads?

Will the return pump on the fuge kill any pods that try to make it back to the main tank?
 
well first you are going to have several factors that will come into play. The first thing you need to know is the height and vertical amount of return water, Which will give you your head, this will consist of vertical height, horizontal height, elbows, ball valves etc. Use a Head caculator to determine your total head.

Here is a link of Mag pumps and the head loss:

http://marinedepot.com/aquarium_powerheads_pumps_danner_mag_drive_supreme.asp?CartId=

For example if you go with a mag 12 and have 0 head you will pump 1200 gph. as your head increases you lose some flow ex. at 0 head 1200gph, at 1' 1200gph, 2' you drop to 1180, 3' 1150

Powerheads will not give you the return you will need gph wise.

Protein skimmer will depend on 1. is it a hob? or in sump.

Will the return pump on the fuge kill any pods that try to make it back to the main tank?

As for your pods, I dont think the impeller will kill all of your pods while being sucked into the return line, I see pods being spit thru my return every now and then and they seem ok. but that is just my experience

Hope this helps
 
I understand the concept of the pumps head. The skimmer will be located in the sump. I was under the impression a power head sucked water in and imediately expelled it, basically a submerged pump with nothing connected to the outlet except for some kind of nozzle.

Is it best to run a single return or a should I run a pair of pumps so there is some redundancy?
 
your general powerhead will not support the head flow. You are gonna have to go with a pump for the return.


you can run 2 pumps, just plumb them together at somepoint during the return line. make sure that you place a ballvalve somewhere in the line as well, to adjust the amount of flow.
 
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