Determining Pump / Size

[Briko03]

I have a tank I am building and I am trying to decide which pump to order. The tank is a 60 gallon rimless marineland which has 1" bulkheads and has a 20 gallon sump beneath. The height of the tank is 57" with the return coming out slightly below that. I plan on adding a check valve and ball valve to the return if they will fit. As of right now I am leaning towards the EHEIM brand but that is up for discussion of course. This is the first time I've planned a sump tank from scratch. (I have set up others with equipment purchased in packages before).

 

[kb1094]

Eheim compact 3000.

 

[ca1ore]

You want a pump that will do about 300 gph after head losses. Thumbs down on the check valve though.

 

[TJ's Reef]

High flow Sump/Fuge guy here of many years and would personally run 600-800 or more GPH through it. I also run Check Valves in vertical position only and have never had any issues from and like that they keep the return plumbing nearly full for restarts. I do though have a siphon break on return inside Display. The merits or benefits of high flow sumps greatly out weigh the trickle ways of past. Everything performs better in this higher flow rate, Skimmers and Reactors get dirtier water to process, Macro Algae is cleaner and healthier thus able to absorb nutrients better, higher consentrations of oxygenated water throughout for better reproduction and bio-diversity in Fuge/Sump. I currently run 1050 gph through my 75g Sump/Fuge and ran about 850gph through a 20g sump on my 50g DT for many years. Different approaches to this from different people but the science/physics support higher flow rates and 25 plus years in doing so for me.


Cheers, Todd

 

[gpwdr]

I use the Triton Method and we pump 10x the tank volume per hour.

Gene

 

[Stephanie11]

I run two tanks. My 125 I do 10x through the sump. My 40 I have 5x, even though it seems less.

Although my 125 has a wide sump (40b) I had the same pump on my 90 with 29g sump.

I personally like more the more flow. I've been thinking of increasing the flow on my 40.

I'm not here to make a debate of slow vs fast flow though sumps, but my personal experience I like a lot of flow.