High performance pumps

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kreblak

kreblak

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Mar 13, 2003
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My neighbor and I are in something of a "Keeping up with the Joneses" situation when it come to SW aquariums. He has officially outdone me this time, but I have been helping willingly because I don't have a whole lot of plumbing experience and I want to do some trial and error on his tank!

Anyway, he has set up a pair of 225 gallon tanks, with a shared 65 gallon sump. He is pumping water out of the sump with a Pentair 1HP external pump, which is rated for 5760 GPH. He claims that this one pump alone will provide him with all the water movement he needs. I am thinking that one pump, even a powerful one, isn't going to be nearly enough for 515 total gallons of saltwater!

If it were your tank, how much pumping power would you want, and how would you solve the inevitable problem of one of the tanks stagnating? I am thinking that because he has this set up as sort of a circuit, the water on the tank not directly fed from the pump is going to suffer from low flow. Any thoughts?
 
S

SamsonNY

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Dec 5, 2002
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Just to clarify:

So, he's got the 65 gallon sump and two 225 gallon tanks. And, one tank is sitting higher than the other one since the flow from tank "A" will "fall" into tank "B" and then fall into the sump. So, the pump will send water from the sump to tank A. Then, the water will "overflow" from tank A to tank B. Then, the water will "overflow" from tank B and return back to the sump.
Is that the set-up?


If that's the case: then whatever flow (gph) he has in tank A will be the same for tank B. Otherwise, he's got a problem.

I guess (maybe) he's got them sitting one on top of another on some sort of shelving with the sump at the very bottom?

I would prefer (and if he has the room and the tank's are the same size) to have the two tanks sit side-by-side (same height!) and have the pump send water to each tank and have each tank "overflow" back to the sump.
 
kreblak

kreblak

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Mar 13, 2003
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Yeah, Samson, you pretty much nailed the set up. He has Tank A overflowing into B, which overflows into the sump. Is the pump he has running enough? If he wants to achieve 12x turnover (my understanding of the mimimum requirement to avoind stagnation) then he needs about another 1000 GPH, right?
 
S

SamsonNY

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Yeah, I guess. I've read that reef tanks require very high gph turnovers. I, myself, don't follow that "strict" requirement but, then again, my tank is a FO. My edumicated guess would be that 10x turnover is still a good amount. Bear in mind each 225 gallon tank is not 225 gallons of water. Also, good positioning of jets to avoid "dead" spots makes a big difference as well. Then again, I'm not a reef expert so, that 12x minimum number might be an important factor for reefs. Not sure.

(An FYI on my tank: I have "only" 5x turnover considering 2,000+ gph pump versus 400 gallon tank; not including 80 gallon sump (which is never more than 1/3 full under normal conditions). But, with my 6 drains and 4 jet nozzle returns, there are no dead spots in the tank. Any piece of debris flies around (stragetically) until it gets sucked into a drain.)

Any chance you have any pics of his set-up? Curious to see it. Curious as to how he's set-up the flow from tank A to tank B.
 
S

SamsonNY

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Just rethinking his set-up a little more.

Take this into consideration:
I guess he does have a very high gph per tank if you consider that the pump is sending 5,700+ gallons (not considering head height here) into tank A.

Then, tank A is overflowing 5,700+ gallons into tank B.

Hmmm.. getting unique here.

So, tank A is getting 5,700 gallons of filtered (IE: from the sump) water.
But then, tank B is getting the overflow of tank A which will be some of the "clean" water as well as "old" tank A water.

Hmmm. Don't know exactly what to think of it. Tank A is in a good position. Tank B?
 
kreblak

kreblak

FDA approval pending
Mar 13, 2003
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My thoughts exactly, Samson. Tank B is going to be getting some not so sparkling water. I'll try to get some pictures. I don't have a scanner, so I'll see what I can come up with.
 
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