Pumps?

[Justin1989]

Ok so my question actually is how big of a pump would I need (as in gph). I want to buy a 50 gal trash can or something along those lines and use a pump to pump it up to my room through a hose. (25' meant for a gravel vacuum). My room is on the second floor of the house; hose would go almost directly up.

[jsoong]

You need a pump that is rated as "high head". Most of the aquarium pumps will not pump water up more than 4-6 feet, and if you have to go to a 2nd story from the basement, you are looking at 20+feet of head.

Depending on how far up you have to pump the water, an aquarium pump might not be strong enough, eg. the Quiet one high head is only rates at 13'. You might have to go with a big pond pump that can handle the height. (Eg a Mag #18 pond pump that is rated at 22' of lift.)

This is a page with flow tables for a variety of popular pumps:
http://www.aquatictech.com/pumps.html
You need a pump with a maximum head height greater than the actual height differential between your tank & storage bin.

[Justin1989]

lol well Im sure that would be one expensive pump I would need. Any other suggestions?

[jsoong]

The Mag pond pumps are about $200 to 300 ....

Another option is to put your storage bin at the same level as your fish tank ... perhaps in a closet? Then you can get by with a much smaller pump.

Better yet, if your bin is in the story ABOVE the tank, you can just fill with a normal hose/siphon.

[jim692]

I assume you are only going to use this to fill the tank for PWC's.
If you used a thermoplastic sump pump you could pump about 30ft. or so at 5 gpm. They go for about $110. This is one from sears.
Simer 1/2 hp Thermoplastic Submersible Sump Pump - 2985 at Sears.com
You can't use the ones with a cast iron base. You need the ones that are only made with plastic.
jsoong do you see any compatibility issues here?

[gzeiger]

That should work fine. 5 gpm should be quite an adequate flow rate for aquarium purposes. Make sure you're okay with everything that might be involved with that "assembly may be required" remark though.

[Justin1989]

That would actually work awesome; I will do this at a later time though. Might have to cover this up outside in a nice 45 gallon container and have it for a auto-fill type ordeal :P Oh the ideas which my parents would probably kill me for. Just bought the 45 gallon container; will clear out my closet, mix my salt water then pump it into the tank. Ultimately it would have to travel 25 ft; however only 4-5 high.

[jim692]

Originally Posted by gzeiger

That should work fine. 5 gpm should be quite an adequate flow rate for aquarium purposes. Make sure you're okay with everything that might be involved with that "assembly may be required" remark though.

I know what you mean with the watch for the assembly required issue. In this case that will mean attaching the float switch (that he may not use anyway) and the adapter for the outlet hose. Everything else is pretty much together. It's a submersible pump and a sealed unit.

[gzeiger]

A more serious objection you may not have considered: 5 gpm is quite a lot in terms of filling a fish tank. If you plan to have the pump located on a lower floor you'll need to have a good plan for how to turn it off when you reach the water level you want. You might need to rig an extension cord so you can unplug it from the tank's location or something. You don't want to overflow the tank while you run downstairs to shut it off.

Also, make sure you have a check valve or other plan to prevent siphoning the water back out once the pump is shut off.