Overflow and sump question

[tigris]

Hi,

I am an ex-saltwater enthusiast. Have been out of keeping fish for like 7 or 8 years but recently was offered a tank and fish for free.

Question is, the top of my 55 gal tank is 4' off the ground. The overflow looks pretty large. I'm in grad school now so I am unable to spend a bunch of $$ so I am thinking I would use a Aquaclear 802 powerhead as the sump pump to get the water back up top.

The 802 is rated at a little over 400 gals p/h. I already have a used 802 so this would be great if it is alright to use a powerhead as a sump pump. What do ya'll think?

 

[OrionGirl]

Sorry, but I don't think it will work. The 802 has that rating for 0 head--make it push the water up 4 feet, and it's going to slow down to much less than that--I'd hazard a guess that it's going to be less than 100 g/h. I use a 2 402's in my nano tank, and the head on it is about 20 inches--pretty poky. For a bigger tank, it just won't puch enough water.

 

[mogurnda]

A mag 7 or mag 9 would work fine, for $60-$70.

 

[tigris]

Cool...thanks for the responses so far...I think I may have found a cheap solution/pump. This site claims to sell at wholesale prices and the prices sure seem good. Are these pumps 'worthy'?

http://www.relaxingdecor.com/wholesalepumps.htm

 

[mogurnda]

Rios have a fairly bad reputation in terms of failure and current leakage. I don't know anything about ViaAqua pumps.

 

[tigris]

I got all my sump/overflow stuff together finally and so far, the 802 is doing the job well as far as I can see...had to try it out.

 

[OrionGirl]

It will move water--the question is how much?

 

[tigris]

It seems to have a good flow rate...have to take time to figure out exactly how many gph...will post results when I do it