pump from my basement to a 120G?

[wonk]

I'm in the process of designing a 120G reef (SPS/LPS) tank that will be on the first floor w/ the sump in the basement. I'm pondering the various sundry options for moving water both in the tank and from the sump. I've considered a straight manifold return to the various oceanMotion products to Tunze turibell streamers.

I'm of the mind at present (but certainly not sure!) that I'd just run the one return pump with enough capacity to hande all the flow I'd need. I like the idea of less moving parts (i.e. pumps) and a simple plumbing arrangement.

In order to get decent flow via just the return pump up the 12' of vertical head (not counting any other head-producing widgets I stick in line), I'm looking primarily to the pressure-rated sequence pumps.

The seq 4300 is rated roughly 2400 GPH at 15' head which is what I'm using as my working resistance. That gets me roughy to the 20x flow rate I'd like to have.

I'm (a) wondering who out there has experience with the 4300--is the performance curve accurate? (b) wondering about the experince of those who are pushing through a lot of head like I'll be doing. While I *love* the idea of having the sump in the basement (where I'll have plenty of space), I've no experience with this remote-type setup. . .

and (c) lastly, what kinds of negative experieces do those of you have that use this single-pump-does-all-water-movement?

thanks

[tblue]

I have been running through a similar scenario with my new setup. I'm very concerned about running all of my water through one pump. If I lose the pump, I could lose everything in the tank. I'm currently looking at running a smaller pump through a closed loop, connected to a ups.....that way I should be able to maintain some flow in power or pump outage. A little redundancy could go a long way.

[arconom]

I will be doing the exact same thing.

I plan on just getting enough flow to overcome the head pressure. Nothing more. I amnot relying on my return pump as my primary circulation. I will having a CL or just use 3 Tunzes.

[wonk]

While I'm not plumbing-phobic, I've learned from experience to KISS (keep it simple stupid) as much as possible, because the whole reeftank beast is enough complex in and of itself.

I'd like to not have closed loops if possible because (1) more plumbing (2) more points of failure (3) another pump (4) noise (that is if I keep the pump close to the tank instead of the basement which seems logical given that I wouldn't want to create more head then necessary).

I currently have a small CL in my system that I dont like mostly because of the intake seeming always to get clogged, but also because of yet another set of holes in the tank and more associated plumbing to have issues yet. Also another pump to fail. Also the plumbing is difficult to get to.

So I might be better served via a return manifold opposing somehthing like a a single Tunze 6100. That way should the return pump fail, I still have water movement in the display--though that isn't much help for long since the sump is where the heater, additives, and skimmer live, obviously, so the return pump is really still a single point of failure.

[bashduo]

I run a mag 12 and a mag 18 pushing 9 feet of head to a 90 gal reef. (from basement) The mag 12 is hooked to a battery back-up using two deep cycle marine batteries. The mag 12 will run for about one hour in the event of a power failure. (Gives me time to hook-up the generator - if I'm home or can get home.) Could always add a couple more batteries to get more battery run time. Then use a coule Seio's in the tank for extra flow.

[stugray]

I have a 125 Gal Oceanic with dual megaoverflows that is plumbed to my basement sump room directly below the display.

See gallery for pics.

I run a closed loop with a sequence Dart.

The pump from the basement is a Sequence Barracuda.

One overflow from the display goes straight into my Skimmer and I need no pump. See http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...r+with+no+pump

The flow from the barracuda from the basement still seems to be the same or more than that of the CL with the Dart. ( hard to tell - 6 nozzles on the CL, two on the returns from the basement )

I havent done anything but simple locline nozzles, but I plan on using some oceans motions circulating nozzles in the future.

Also - wonk "I wouldn't want to create more head then necessary"

For a Closed Loop, the fact that the pump is in the basement does not add to the static head loss ( except for the fact that it requires more plumbing ). The "rise" from the basement is not calculated into the head loss if it is on a CL.

Stu

[JohnS_323]

I think the 4300 should be good if you just plan to feed one tank upstairs. I just finished a similar project. I have a 120g on my main floor and plumbed it into a sump system in the basement. I didn't exactly go with the KISS philosophy, but I did do it all with one pump.

I'm using a Sequence 5800, which is really quiet and really powerful. I created a 3" manifold with 6 exit ports. One of them goes upstairs, one of them goes to a frag grow-out tank, one of them returns excess flow to the sump and the remaining 3 are capped for future use. I plan on tying one in to my home drain system to use for hassle free water changes. The other two will be used for future aquariums in the basement. Hopefully the Sequence has enough left to support all of that.

As far as redundant systems, I'm afraid I'm a little lacking. I have a Tunze 6100 in the main that I plan to put on a UPS to keep things moving in case of a power failure.

Here is a link to a thread with some pics:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=718761

I have pretty elaborate drawings with pipe sizes, reduction points, etc., if you have any interest.

Good Luck and HTH!