my diy 4500 gph! eheim pump

spazz · #1 08/27/2006, 12:08 PM

well i was asked to start a new thread about this pump instead of putting it in the maxi mod thread. so here it is ...
this is a eheim 1250 pump that i converted into a flow pump for my tank. after testing it with a garbage bag and stop watch and then bailing out the garbage bag iwth a gallon jug i cam up with 4500 gallons an hour out of this bad boy. its running at 32 watts right now. i need to find a little bit smaller propellor for it so i dont have to start the pump out of the water. i have a second 1250 that i plan to convert to this style of pump. i will post detailed pics of the parts needed and how easy this is to convert over. you could build this pump yourself at home. i figure i have about $120 in parts including the price of the eheim pump in this. and the big tunze 6100 that runs 3200g an hour costs $350 shipped to your door. this is not controllable like the tunze pumps but you can have the flow of the tunzes for half the price of one tunze pump. the pump runs dead silent. the only way you know its running is to see the sand bed being blown around or the fish playing in the stream it is blasing out. i still need to put a stopper in the pump so it will start in the right direction every time. but so far its a winner!

dgasmd · #2 08/27/2006, 02:34 PM

Simply awesome spazz!!! Now all you need is to come up with a way to attach this to a magnet for positioning and you are set to go. Also, you can always get a cheap wavemaker and connect several of these pumps to it so long as they have a stop to start in the right direction again. Personally, I would leave them all on at all times and make the flow collide with each other making waves inside the tank.

Andrew · #3 08/27/2006, 02:50 PM

You're are just comming up with new things all the time. Sweet idea.

jman77 · #4 08/27/2006, 03:49 PM

You Da man..,.. now start making some kits to sell

nyvp · #5 08/27/2006, 03:54 PM

All Hail SPAZZ the DIY GOD !!!!

I bow down before your greatness

MSIBWP · #6 08/27/2006, 04:00 PM

I've been reading the Maji Jet thread and now this one. The one thing that I dont understand is the "stopper".

Can some explain?...maybe with pics?

spazz · #7 08/27/2006, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by nyvp
All Hail SPAZZ the DIY GOD !!!!

I bow down before your greatness

no this is a false statement. im no god nor am i that great. i do apericeate the flatering comments but there just not true. this idea was just a bigger version of the maxi jet mods. so there is really nothing new here other than the size and bigger flow.

spazz · #8 08/27/2006, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jman77
now start making some kits to sell

no i dont want to do that. i will leave that up to the guy at mjmods.com

Karl K · #9 08/27/2006, 07:55 PM

Sweet!

dgasmd · #10 08/27/2006, 07:57 PM

It would be nice if those kits came witht he shaft and propeller already made so all one has to do is substitute the parts and go.

spazz · #11 08/27/2006, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dgasmd
It would be nice if those kits came witht he shaft and propeller already made so all one has to do is substitute the parts and go.

cant be done. the outer part of the pump needs to be removed with a saw and then trimmed down with a sander. then the rest is easy.

bskiba · #12 08/27/2006, 11:16 PM

good Idea. why not just use 1 bigger prop? how hard of time did this pump have turning props. what do you think you could do with a bigger ehiem? If this is comparable to a 6100 the 6080 is not that much more and probably more reliable.

jared2 · #13 08/27/2006, 11:17 PM

Awesome Job!!! I have two of the exact same pump, so I'm anxiously awaiting instructions on how to convert my tortoises into kick @ss wavemakers!

Thank you for all the hard work as usual!

spazz · #14 08/27/2006, 11:22 PM

i am hoping to get my new impellor for my other pump this week. its ordered from priemum aquatics so it should be here later in the week. then i have to order some acrylic tube to make the shroud. i will try to post detailed pics of the conversion by mid week, next week. i also need to find the right prop for it so it will start in the water every time.

Quote:

Originally posted by jared2
Awesome Job!!! I have two of the exact same pump, so I'm anxiously awaiting instructions on how to convert my tortoises into kick @ss wavemakers!

Thank you for all the hard work as usual!

bskiba · #15 08/27/2006, 11:40 PM

That seems to be the trick(finding the right prop). I have done a few mj's and an ac70 and the props seem to be the difference. I know boat props dont get that big but airplane props get really big. Do you think and of these pumps could turn a 3-4" prop?

spazz · #16 08/27/2006, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bskiba
That seems to be the trick(finding the right prop). I have done a few mj's and an ac70 and the props seem to be the difference. I know boat props dont get that big but airplane props get really big. Do you think and of these pumps could turn a 3-4" prop?

not with this pump. but maybe with the big 1260 or the 1262 eheims you could. but who needs a pump that is running 8000gallons an hour in there tank. you might as well stick a merc cruser in there for flow.

well i forgot about energys tank. i guess 4 of the eheim 1262's modified to push 8000g each would be perfect for his 1700g tank. one in each corner.

bskiba · #17 08/28/2006, 12:32 AM

I was over at jnarowe's a week ago. he has the "enough talk 100 gallon tank" thread and he has 4 vortecs. 1 or 2 make noise so I think these would be perfect. Or one of the local stores has a 1200 gallon or so shark tank with a black tip reef shark. but like the tunze stream 6300 that is 8000gph they are made for public aquariums.

you do understand that If you build it some guy will put 2 in his 180 gallon tank.

spazz · #18 08/28/2006, 05:42 AM

well the build for the 1260 would be the same as the build for the 1250. you would just have to go bigger on the prop and shroud. kind of like the maxi jets are. so if some one wants the really big ones they can build them. i just dont want to build something that i have no use for.

Rickster88888 · #19 08/28/2006, 08:56 AM

Good job spazz!!!

Is there any problems getting the prop to spin in the right direction?

spazz · #20 08/28/2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rickster88888
Good job spazz!!!
Is there any problems getting the prop to spin in the right direction?

it starts backwards some times. but i also have to take the pump out of the water to start it. i just got some new grapnuer props so i plan to try some of them on there to see if it will start in the water. i may loose a little bit of flow but it shouldnt be too bad. in the end i expect it to push about 4000-4300 gph.

H20ENG · #21 08/30/2006, 06:45 PM

Spazz,
Nice job! You could shave the prop edges down a bit with your CNC and it should start up fine.

spazz · #22 08/30/2006, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by H20ENG
Spazz,
Nice job! You could shave the prop edges down a bit with your CNC and it should start up fine.

yes i could trim them down, but i would like to find the right prop so others can try to mod there own pumps.

Covey · #23 08/30/2006, 11:04 PM

You should work on having the housing as open as posssible. You might be able to push the prop your using now.

I learned from the maxis I've moded the housing makes a huge different. I get 30 or 40% more flow from my gutter guard housing than my friends got out the MJmod.com housing. Using the same mj and prop.

I think the same would apply here. The more open the housing the better.

Frunkster · #24 09/01/2006, 07:49 PM

Posted on the maxi jet thread b4 I spotted you had done this one Spazz

Well I have had this evil itch in the back of my head for a long time now, & thanks to Spazz's pionearing work I took the itch away

This is how my Eheim 1060 looks now after some serious chopping up, injured myself to this time, but I think the result was well worth the pain, now how to convince the partner I need a tank upgrade to go with it

as I wet tested it in the 450gl tank & unless I switch to a full SPS set up I fear it a bridge to far, so in the bath tub it went, the words "swirling cauldron of terror" sprang to mind

I have not put a stopper in yet, in all honesty a tad scared to the dam things so powerful, think it may shatter something??.

God knows how much the GPH is on this thing either.

spazz · #25 09/02/2006, 01:13 AM

I'm dying to know what brand of propeller that is and what size it is? that thing is a monster compared to my little 1250.

you planning on a tidal wave in your tank twice a day? if that is the same as the american version of the 1260 then you had better have a 1000g tank that is 12 feet long. or you will blow water over the sides of it.

i wonder if fish ever thought of surfing the waves? they could with that pump in a tank.