GPH Pump flow question

[SnowManSnow]

OK..

What GPH should my sump pump be rated for? I mean, how many times / hr should I try to cycle my water through my sump?

tryin to set up a 60g cube display tank with sump.

That being said, any particular brands you guys reccomend?

Thanks,

B

 

[LA-Lawman]

welllll,

this solely depends on what your overflow will handle. I would say your internal tank flow should be greater tahn your sump flow. so if you have 600gph going thru the average 1" overflow.

I would say at least 1200-1500gph intank circ if not more. You want flow in the tank not force....

look at streams and ecotech's to do that for you. I push 1200gph thru my sump. two 1" overflows. and about 2200 gph thru my turbelle's and maxijets. so 3400gph total water movement in a 180g....

do you see where i am going with this?

hth

 

[SnowManSnow]

not really.

better to have 2 1 inch holes.. or 1 2 inch?

I have plenty of Maxijets for internal display flow, question is just how much flow I should tackle with what size hole in the overflow.. isn't that the real issue?

Never done a sump design before, just getting my feet wet... hopefully not the carpet.


B

 

[Anonymous]

IMO you only need to pass enough water to the sump that can be processed by the skimmer. I like about 10x the tank volume pass throung the sump. I had a 60 cube with a 1" drain. It handeled the flow but was loud. I would suggest a single 1.5" drain.

 

[LA-Lawman]

I wish i had 1.5" drains.... it would make life easier. I always have to tone down my pumps....

 

[SnowManSnow]

So , no one has mentioned 2 inch drains... 1.5? that as big as I wanna go?

B

 

[ChrisRD]

A single 1.5" drain is more than enough for a 60 gallon tank IMO - 2" would be overkill.

 

[Anonymous]

Depends what the purpose of your sump is for, if it's just to move water between the top and bottom then why have a sump? For a manifold or return jets? use a closed loop

If you have a skimmer or other filtration there, then in all honesty a slow rate sump is perfectly fine, it gives the skimmer time to clean up more water so the water going back is more likely to be cleaned. All sorts of other filtration, carbon, phos*(cleaner), etc use slow flow rates anyways, so why waste energy with an over powered pump.

And I concur with the use of a 1.5" drain, it's 2.25x the size of a 1" drain, plus that means less water per volume touching the sides (ie places where viscosity slows things down).