Very Large tanks what to do for pumps ?

[twentyleagues]

How are you preventing back flow when a return pump goes offline? … or do you have pumps tied to only one specific return ?

Anti-siphon holes just above the water line is best. I tried the anti drain back valve on my current set up I hate it. It worked great for about 4-5 months now it allows water to slowly leak back. It also increases head pressure on the pump. I am not the person you asked but that has been my findings. If you can not do anti-siphon holes or siphon breaks make sure you have enough room in your sump to accommodate the back flow.

As for a feed pump you dont want or need a ton of flow through the sump ideally somewhere in the 4-8x at most. I currently use jebaos myself on multiple tanks. In my previous reef life with my sump system in the basement and two reef tanks upstairs being fed by 1 pump down there I used a reeflo hammerhead.

 

[exnisstech]

how long have you been using it?

The dcp 15000 9 months. I have a dcp 5000 that has been running for 20 months and a dcp 3500 probably 3 years. I've had zero issues. I never even clean any of them. I can't hear them over the water flow in the sump.

 

[exnisstech]

In my previous reef life with my sump system in the basement and two reef tanks upstairs being fed by 1 pump down there I used a reeflo hammerhead.

This sounds just like myself. I had a 150g and 180g with a basement sump and a hammerhead gold supplying both. I still have two of the hammerheads laying around. They're a great pump but my electric bill has come down $50 a month since I stopped the AC pump.

 

[twentyleagues]

This sounds just like myself. I had a 150g and 180g with a basement sump and a hammerhead gold supplying both. I still have two of the hammerheads laying around. They're a great pump but my electric bill has come down $50 a month since I stopped the AC pump.

I still have one of mine too. It was a backup just in case. When I moved I found it, had completely forgotten about it so its basically brand new. I have no use for it as its too much flow for anything I have or will have. I have a basement but where my fishroom is I can not put a sump in the basement. Ill have to devise a way to make a central sump hooked up to multiple tanks in the same room just to put it to use....lol jk or am I?

 

[Laith]

How are you preventing back flow when a return pump goes offline? … or do you have pumps tied to only one specific return ?

No, two returns into the DT, one from each pump.

And yes, good point you make re the back flow... as I found when testing turning off one return pump. Solution here:

And when I was testing the reaction of the system when return pumps were turned off, individually and both, I discovered a surprising (at least to me) problem. As a reminder, I have two return pumps on two return lines, each pump running at 50%.

I have my return lines ending about 1-1.5cm under the DT water level. The sump can easily handle that amount of water flowing back through the return lines until the outlets are above water and break the siphons.

However: if one return pump was turned off and the second return pump continued running, the running pump kept the DT water level at a point where the siphon did NOT break on the return line of the pump that was turned off... So I ended up with very little water going over the overflow as most of the water pumped up by the working pump was coming back down the return line that had now become a 40mm drain pipe!

And when I turned the second pump back on, it struggled to start pumping water up the return line that was now a drain. The impeller was spinning so fast in the wrong direction that it could not start pumping water up the return line.

After a discussion with Ridgeway (he of SWUBE fame on Ultimate Reef), he suggested putting in a siphon break higher up on the return outlet by drilling a 6mm hole in the pipe and using some 1/4" tubing and a 90 degree bend to have that break just barely under the normal DT water level.

Like this:

And this on the second return:

And voila! problem solved. Now the siphon breaks even if one pump keeps running. And as the return is no longer acting as a drain, when the pump comes back on it has no problem starting up and running normally.

I'm thinking about having a second one of these on each return in case one gets blocked but that isn't urgent at the moment. I'll look at doing that before the next time I'm planning on being away from the tank for a long period.

Many thanks to Ridgeway for the advice! ;Happy

 

[Jamie814]

How are you preventing back flow when a return pump goes offline? … or do you have pumps tied to only one specific return ?

Installing a check valve on each return line will also work. Here is how mine looks. Central sump with two large refugiums. Mine is almost 11 feet long total, 3 separate tanks under the stand tied together with bulkheads.

 

[twentyleagues]

Installing a check valve on each return line will also work. Here is how mine looks. Central sump with two large refugiums. Mine is almost 11 feet long total, 3 separate tanks under the stand tied together with bulkheads.

How long have your check valves been in operation? I got 4-5 months out of mine and they started allowing water through. I took them apart and cleaned them and used silicone lube on the seal of the flapper still leak when pump is off. I am good there is plenty of room in the sump for the overflow I just dont want the tank draining that much.

 

[Jamie814]

How long have your check valves been in operation?

I've ran them for years without issue for the intended purpose of preventing a large back flow or full back siphoning when the pump is off. No check valve will seal 100% in a reef setup because of the environment. Your sump still has to be able to accommodate the proper amount of water if there is an extended power outage.

If you are running 2 or more return pumps you need some way to prevent a full back siphon if a pump stops as most of the water will just back siphon into the return camber and back up the pump still running essentially bypassing most of your filtration. If you are running only one return pump, I do not recommend using check valves.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

I run a red dragon eco 130w from Royal exclusive on my 1040L tank. It’s more than enough and I run it at about 70%.
I just have to transport water through a wall. If I had the sump room and tank on different stories of the house I would do a high pressure version.

 

[twentyleagues]

I've ran them for years without issue for the intended purpose of preventing a large back flow or full back siphoning when the pump is off. No check valve will seal 100% in a reef setup because of the environment. Your sump still has to be able to accommodate the proper amount of water if there is an extended power outage.

If you are running 2 or more return pumps you need some way to prevent a full back siphon if a pump stops as most of the water will just back siphon into the return camber and back up the pump still running essentially bypassing most of your filtration. If you are running only one return pump, I do not recommend using check valves.

When I set up my 180g I am going to use Melvsreef anti siphon design. It still uses back flow valves just on the return lines in a way to use an anti-siphon hole in the return line itself.

 

[piranhaman00]

Jebao no doubt

 

[Bruttall]

my L1 lasted about 5 years, swapped it out to a Current USA pump when it failed. 3100gph runs at max, same as the L1 did. I have dual 1.5 inch overflows surrounded by 4inch pvc to quiet it all down. tank runs whisper silent, only real noise is the small gurgle of the baffle overflows in the sump.
To prevent backflow on return line is really simple, just need a 1 way flapper valve like used in basement sump pumps available for under $20 at most hardware stores and a little diy ingenuity with plumbing.
If you got room around your 300g, might check out my build thread. I got a pretty massive fish room behind my display for all my equipment. sorry if I sound like I'm braggin, I never really out grew show and tell.
Grats on the big tank!

 

[danreef55]

Agree on ^^. If 4 holes, then I would go 2 closed loop pumps.

For me, I run 2 x Red Dragon 130w DC pumps on a 450g tank.

I will be doing the same 2 RDs

 

[am3gross]

I use 2 M2s on mine, both set to 40 percent. I deploy often so I use 2 pumps. if one goes down, then I just up the percent on the good one till the 2nd gets replaced. On my last deployment, which I just got back on the 10th of this month, 1 failed, so my plan paid off this time.