Pump Question and thoughts

[Thoax]

Hey guys,

I am looking to change one of my return pumps and wanted to see what your thought are, I run 2 return pumps at the moment on my tank they are the M2 and L1 Vectra.
I will most likely be changing out the M2 as i am at the max head pressure for the pump and the flow i am getting out of it is not good. My L1 i will most likely be going in for service as since i got it the flow started out at 750 according to my apex flow meter and is now down to 410 ( pump is clean and nothing seems to be wrong with it).

My tank is on my main floor and my sump is in the basement i have about 15'-18' feet to pump up to the tank, I am looking at getting the Abyzz A200 and my main question is the input is 2" and the output is 1.5"... My tank is fully plumbed and the pipes go into the walls and floor, my return lines at all 1" and at this time i cant change them out.

Would running the Abyzz at 1" be ok? I know i would be losing some performance but would it be that bad?

Only other option would be going with a red dragon pump.

Thoughts?

 

[Ron Reefman]

What kind of head can these pumps push? 15 to 18 feet of head is a lot for even the best aquarium pumps.

 

[Chibils]

Have you considered an external pump for a high head pressure situation like this? I don't know how DC pumps like the Vectra or Abyzz handle it, but old school external pumps like Iwaki and Reeflo can take up to 40' of head pressure depending on the model. They're built for it, so you could still push plenty of water over a 15' vertical span. Not sure what sort of flow needs you have, but an Iwaki MD-100RLT pushes about 2000gph, same as the Vectra M2. At 18' head pressure, it moves about 1700gph. source

 

[DCR]

You can run the Abyzz with 1", but I am not sure why you would want to spend all that money on a DC pump that you will be running near maximum speed anyway due to the high head requirements. The 1" piping is going to restrict you to about 800 gph anyway. I think it would make more sense to buy a pressure rated Iwaki (Like a 40RT or 55) or equivalent Pan World.

 

[Thoax]

Thanks guys for the reply, My main problem is i don't have the room for an external pump, My sump is in a very tight spot and there is no way of getting an external in there.