fluval 204 as 'fuge pump

oscar83

oscar83

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May 21, 2004
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so i definitely want to set up a refugium for my 75 gal reef. im kind of on a tight budget. i have an extra fluval 204 laying around and was wondering if it would be good as a pump sort of for the fuge. i wouldnt have any media in the filter it would be completely empty as i just want to use it as a pump basically. i believe it pumps about 180 gph or something like that. would this be feasible to use or is the flow too little?
 
i thought a sump will only fill up as fast as the pump can pump the water out of it. it makes sense to me. am i wrong?
 
Well, the siphon could break if it's a hang on tank overflow... but I don't know where you getting this idea from, grins. The overflow can't just magically pull out water that isn't there.

As for the fluval... My understanding is canisters aren't capable of dealing with much head pressure, I could be wrong though.
 
Agreed with dorkfish on both counts. If your return pump pumps more water than your drain can handle, you might overflow your main tank, but unless you sit there with a python or hose filling up your sump, you won't overflow your sump. The water will only drain out as fast as its being put in, up to the limit of the drain. And yes, canister pumps are high flow, low head pressure, so one of those wouldn't deal well with the 4' or so of head it would have as a return pump. It might make it, but if the canister is rated at 180gph, I bet you might get a third that or less with that much head pressure.
 
1. I'm getting the flooding idea from stories of flooded sumps from reefkeepers I've met. 2. not disagreeing on the flooded display one bit as I've witnessed that.

and I still think that using the filter mentioned is inadequate and wouldn't try it personally.
 
i would say go ahead you should not have any problem exept if it doesnt do enough flow then it just doenst flow alot. you wont overflow if it doesnt have enough gph flow rate. thats impossible. the only water that goes into your pump is the water that gets pumped out of it.
 
Are you talking a fuge to go with a sump? Or just a fuge no sump?

And you want a pump to get from just the fuge back up to the tank? Or just from the fuge to a sump?

If you are talking from the fuge back up to the tank then I will say that you sure shouldn't expect much flow at all, as closed canister filter pumps depend on the standing head pressure over the canister to cancel the return head pressure. When you shift that canister inlet down to a sump the pump then has no canceling head pressure on its suction side and hence its capacity is greatly curtailed.

I would guess that if it does 180 in its designed configuration it will probably do half that in this configuration. Just a guess mind you.
 
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