External pump recomendation

[Savant]

Im looking for a recommendation for an external pump for a pre-drilled 73g bowfront 1" drain with an aprox 20-30 gal sump & 15' of head. Thinking 60# rock 2-3" ssb. The tank is dry so I could prob change the size of the drain but would rather not (guess i would need to drill)

I am planning on shrooms, LPS, Zoa and Nems for a couple of years, then.....

Recommendations for external pump:
Recommended return volume into tank:
Recommended number of return outlets into tank:

had an idea of perhaps building rocks around drilled pvc as part of the return solution is that a good or BAD idea...lol?

 

[Reefing Madness]

The external pump would be your return to the tank. The 1" drain would be your overflow to the sump. A sump should run 5-6 times your tank volume, so 600gph would be fine. For our external pump, do you not want it in the sump as a return? You have your sump drilled for a external pump? Being as you are only running one overflow and its only going to be 600gph, I'd only go with one return line. But we are going to need a beast for 15' head loss.
Panworld 200PS
Supreme Hy-Drive
Mag Drive
Little Giant
Reefflo
Seen people do the pvc and rock trick, takes a bit of doing, but looks nice.

 

[Savant]

with the external pump Im trying to head off a potential heat issue (non air conditioned house), The 15' head is due to the sump being in the basement (agian trying to mitigate heat) Im not married to an external pump by any means I just thought that would be one less source of heat I will be dealing with. As far as a drilled sump, Im going to be making my sump/fuge from rubbermaid containers so I dont anticipate (pray pray) any issues with plumbing.

 

[Savant]

Edit: I was not planning on the rock/pvc return on being the sole source of return water I just thought it might be helpful in circulating water in addition to the powerheads. Sorry if I was unclear about that

 

[Reefing Madness]

The returns form the sump should not be angled or restriced for flow, as your looking at 15' of headloss anyways, you don't want to lose anymore, unless you go with a larger pump, which can be done. There are plenty out there to choose from.
So, if your going to have just that as flow in the tank, you'll need around 2000gph into the sump, as you'll need around 1500gph flow from that return in the tank for proper flow, if your going with corals, if not, then you'd need a total return of 750gph from the sump after headloss, or your looking at about 1200-1500gph return pump.

 

[Savant]

Im a little confused. Let me start over lol, I want one return line from the sump that I plan to T at the top of the tank with one division going into the rock structure (or not if this will be cause for a much larger pump) and the other just an open pipe into the tank.

Where Im now confused is in needing 1200+gph pump after head-loss or 750gph after head-loss.

Also do you think the 1" drain line can support the necessary flow needed? sry for being so cornfused

 

[Reefing Madness]

1" will accomodate 600gph
So, needing a bigger pump is academic at this point. Needing the different gphs is depnedant on wether or not you were going with a FOWLR or a REEF, both of which require different rates of flow. FOWLR being at 10x your DT volume, and REEF at 20x your DT volume.

 

[fragmatic]

The fact that you are putting the sump in the basement will make the 1" draw at its max. The gravity pull will assist.

I would like to suggest you goggle and u-tube a few overflows and returns and give yourself a chance to see some examples.

As far as heat. You will be amazed how many BTU you can pull out of a tank with fans. Cooling by evaporation is very efficient. I have a 12 inch wire framed fan over my 90 gal and it is operated by a thermostat system that controls my heaters and the fans. BUT, you will need to have an automatic top off (ATO) water adding system to get away with that.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Maybe this explains it better than I am. Your headloss of 15' is going to be huge on a pump, so the pump you are actually going to get is going to have an actual gph of big numbers, from 0'.
Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

 

[Savant]

Thanks for the info guys!! I found a head-loss calculator and it really opened my eyes! I remeasured and calculated with a proper stand for the sump I got it down to about 10' of head. I also found some info on the diameter of a pipe vs flow and it looks like if I drill out the 1" hole big enough to accommodate a 2" pipe I actually quadruple the volume of water the pipe will drain, however, since the tank was drilled with 2 hole in close proximity to each other I think this might be a dangerous undertaking. Sooo now I will research another method of draining. WHEW I'm glad I decided to do some serious research vs impulse setting up this tank lol, by the time im done research I wont have to worry about the hot weather cause its probably gonna be fall!

 

[Reefing Madness]

ROFL. Wait til your into the chemistry side of this. My head still hurts. I sucked at chemistry in school, then all of a sudden in order to keep a Reef Tank, ya gotta know who does what and how much it does.