Maxijet 400 sump pump?

[Tobykourtney]

I have a 20 gallon reef with a 10 gallon sump that sits directly behind the display and just installed a maxijet 400. My question is will this be enough flow though my sump with roughly 6 inches of head pressure.

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[mr_X]

No way. You are going to want more flow than that. How does the 20 drain into the 10?

 

[Tobykourtney]

No way. You are going to want more flow than that. How does the 20 drain into the 10?

I've heard that 3-5 times return is ideal. I'm getting 80 gph. Was I misinformed? The 20 drains into sump through a one inch bulkhead with a 90 degree elbow attached.

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[mr_X]

There is no ideal return pressure really. You want at least enough flow to keep your sump from having areas of standing water and also enough to feed your reactors, media, and/or algae. If this mj400 is doing that, then I suppose it will work, but I feel like that sump is going to be barely moving.
In other words, if you decide on a skimmer that has a 300 gph pump on it, you want a return that's at least 300 gph after head loss in order for it to work at full efficiency.

 

[Tobykourtney]

The only info I could find on my skimmer said 55 gph. It's an aquaticlife 115

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[Tobykourtney]

There is no ideal return pressure really. You want at least enough flow to keep your sump from having areas of standing water and also enough to feed your reactors, media, and/or algae. If this mj400 is doing that, then I suppose it will work, but I feel like that sump is going to be barely moving.
In other words, if you decide on a skimmer that has a 300 gph pump on it, you want a return that's at least 300 gph after head loss in order for it to work at full efficiency.

I tried a mj900 before but with the strainer on the 90 degree elbow attached to a 1 inch bulkhead it was pushing to much water for the drain to handle. It'll work without the strainer but I don't want any fish to get sucked up into the sump.

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[mr_X]

That's odd. I have used a mag 5 return (500gph) on a 90 with strainer in a 1" bulkhead and it was fine. I would definitely keep the strainer, but I'm wondering why it won't drain. can you take some pics?

 

[Tobykourtney]

I'm on vacation but here's an old pic of the tank


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[Tobykourtney]

And bird eye of sump


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[Tobykourtney]

That's odd. I have used a mag 5 return (500gph) on a 90 with strainer in a 1" bulkhead and it was fine. I would definitely keep the strainer, but I'm wondering why it won't drain. can you take some pics?

I had to break off a few of the slits in the strainer to get it to handle the mj400. Maybe I can get a 1 inch pvc plugs and drill 1/4 inch holes in it.

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[mr_X]

I would turn the 90 so it's diagonal instead of straight up. See if that helps.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I will. I was also looking at gluing gutter gaurd to the 90 degree elbow instead of using the strainer. Do you think that would help?

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[mr_X]

I have always kept my 90's on a diagonal, so this is the only problem I see. I don't know about gutter guard, but it seems to me that if the strainer is the problem, more holes under water is the answer.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I'll try it as soon as I get home. Hopefully my tanks still in one piece lol. Thanks man

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[Tobykourtney]

I have always kept my 90's on a diagonal, so this is the only problem I see. I don't know about gutter guard, but it seems to me that if the strainer is the problem, more holes under water is the answer.

I ordered a wider strainer and I'm going to turn the elbow at a diagonal hopefully this will help. If it doesn't work I'll have to screw it straight into the bulkhead which will put the water level about an inch below the trim which would kinda suck.


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[mr_X]

This is what mine looked like-

 

[Tobykourtney]

This is what mine looked like-

No pic showed up

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[Tobykourtney]

This is what mine looked like-

Never mind it showed up. Thanks man ill try that and hopefully it works.

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[Tobykourtney]

I have always kept my 90's on a diagonal, so this is the only problem I see. I don't know about gutter guard, but it seems to me that if the strainer is the problem, more holes under water is the answer.

I tried the elbow at an angle with the strainer and without with a maxijet 1200. It overflowed still but the maxijet 900 is working now. I think it has a lot to do with how close the sump is to the display in height. The 160 gph that the maxijet 900 is pushing seems to be doing a lot better though.

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[mr_X]

Amazing. Well, I'm glad it works.