Sicca 4.0 for sump return pump

jaxteller007 · Jun 4, 2018

So I'm in the process of setting up a sump for my 75g tank.

I dry fit all the plumbing tonight. Tested from overflow to sump. Water went to sump with no leaks.
I'm not confident about how the return pump is set up. I could not find very much information on this sicca pump so I had to piece together what I could find with what the home depot people were telling me.

Trickman2 · Jun 4, 2018

That 90 degree is going to cost you a lot of flow.
Considering switching out for a 45.
Considering flex spa pipe instead of hard pvc.
Get plastic pipe clamps to secure barb connectors. Otherwise you may have a water feature in your sump one of these days.

Trickman2 · Jun 4, 2018

jaxteller007 said:
So I'm in the process of setting up a sump for my 75g tank.

I dry fit all the plumbing tonight. Tested from overflow to sump. Water went to sump with no leaks.
I'm not confident about how the return pump is set up. I could not find very much information on this sicca pump so I had to piece together what I could find with what the home depot people were telling me.

Can we see a picture of the whole sump setup?

Trickman2 · Jun 4, 2018

Flex pvc pipe would be wise to replace all hard pvc. Home Depot/Lowe’s should carry it.

Swoody · Jun 5, 2018

I used a Sicce synchra 4.0 as a return pump in my 135g for a year and a half, great little pump....quiet and it had plenty of flow, so in a 75g I don't think that 90 degree elbow is going to hurt you flow wise at all. You may find that you will adjust the adjustable suction inlet down a bit. In addition BRS did an entire segment on flow losses in 90* vs. 45* elbows and concluded that there are little to no losses incurred. I do agree that you may want to get some clamps on the barbed fittings....but in all honesty I ran without them for quite some time....YMMV

JoshH · Jun 5, 2018

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jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

Yes I have clamps to put on it lol. Just have not clamped or glued anything yet.

I looked at flex pvc but the additional cost of the connectors and stuff were too much at this time.

jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

JoshH said:
What has you questioning it? Everything looks good, I second getting plastic clamps but other than that, glue her up !!

I've never used one of those unions before so I was worried about how the fittings dont screw in all the way down.

jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

Trickman2 said:
Can we see a picture of the whole sump setup?

That's the pipe running from the HOB overflow into the sump.

jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

And thanks for all the responses everyone.

JoshH · Jun 5, 2018

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Trickman2 · Jun 5, 2018

jaxteller007 said:
That's the pipe running from the HOB overflow into the sump.

I would change out the pipe for flex pvc coming down from the overflow and on the return. It will serve three purposes, reduce noise, more flexibility and eliminate some of need for all those hard angles.

Trickman2 · Jun 5, 2018

Swoody said:
I used a Sicce synchra 4.0 as a return pump in my 135g for a year and a half, great little pump....quiet and it had plenty of flow, so in a 75g I don't think that 90 degree elbow is going to hurt you flow wise at all. You may find that you will adjust the adjustable suction inlet down a bit. In addition BRS did an entire segment on flow losses in 90* vs. 45* elbows and concluded that there are little to no losses incurred. I do agree that you may want to get some clamps on the barbed fittings....but in all honesty I ran without them for quite some time....YMMV

Wow man, I am glad you didn't give me advice on my plumbing when I started. If you didn't notice his return line from the overflow box in the background has two 90's in it

. This would be so much cleaner if flex pvc was used and would also reduce stress on bulkheads.

JoshH · Jun 5, 2018

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cracker · Jun 5, 2018

I'm with Josh, The flex pvc has too much memory. I will not lay straight. I use the black tubing . I have a 5 or 6 sicce on my 75 The black tubing (lfs should have it.) the return runs straight up to the back of the tank. No 90's ,45's . For a straight max flow from the pump. At least this has worked well for me.

JBKReef · Jun 5, 2018

I use a 4.0 as my return on a 93 cube, plenty of flow. I use a silicone tubing from the pump to my hard plumbed manifold to reduce on vibration which looks very similar to what you did.

jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

JoshH said:
The threads will never screw all the way in, just most of the way, best thing to do is coat the threads (I do the inside threads) in threaded PVC pipe sealant and screw in until it's a snug fit. The union itself should screw all the way together but the threaded fittings typically won't. You will find the thread sealant will let them go in a little further but not much.

I'll have to grab some pipe sealant as I don't have any right now. I've got the primer and glue, some typical plumbers tape and I grabbed some kind of PVC tape you can put on the outside but I wasn't sure on using it. Good to know about the threads on the fittings not screwing all the way in, that's what really worried me.

jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

Trickman2 said:
Wow man, I am glad you didn't give me advice on my plumbing when I started. If you didn't notice his return line from the overflow box in the background has two 90's in it . This would be so much cleaner if flex pvc was used and would also reduce stress on bulkheads.

The flex PVC just wasn't an option at this time. Down the road when we upgrade tanks, and money isn't as much an issue (paying rent on two places right now) than I can hopefully do a more professional set up.

jaxteller007 · Jun 5, 2018

Side note... it was unbelievable how few instructions came with any of this equipment and how hard it was to find recent tips/videos online. I need to find out the proper set up for this skimmer in a sump instead of HOB.
https://www.aquatop.com/products/aquatop-xyclone-protein-skimmer-370gph

I had found one video before of someone using it that way, just need to find more help in making sure it's set up right.