return pump

[orbit]

well some of you already know that i turned my 10G into a sump, the sump work was a mess, lol

everything that could have went wrong did ROFL

well i ended up buying glass becasue my Hd had little pieces, and i only had to cut tiny pieces off, well i ended up cracking the glass in half LOL, the silicone tube was messed up as well,for some odd reason no mater how hard i pressed on the trigger, nothing came out of the right end, it came out the other end, so i ended up taking the other end off a squeezed out the silicone onto a plastic box and used my hand (with gloves on) and tried to apply it, i tested it today and was leak proof LOL. but the sump look disgusting and im thinking of taking it apart and redoing the silicone job

well for the thread question now

i want to buy the parts i need tonight from either marine depot or dr foster and smith

i decided to go with the CRP overflow
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...=overflow&Np=1
the 300 gph one

as for my return pump

i have a question, the sump will be directly under the display tank so its about 3-4 feet

will the mag 5 be too much flow?

i think i will be using this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&pcatid=14680, but im not 100% sure,

since i dont have much plumbing experiment, i might just go to my LFS for plumbing

Thanks
Orbit

[frank2926]

I do not recommend the cpr over flow . It uses an air pump and can flood. I also do not care for mag pumps. They are very hardy, but they also run very hot and use a lot of juice. You also need to use larger plumbing with them to reduce head loss. Yes a mag 5 would be to much flow, you only want about 3-5 times tank turnover per hour. you can buy a large pump and just throttle it back some. High flow thru the sump will make it hard to control noise and micro bubbles.

[werkkrew]

I have the CPR overflow and it has been working great. Granted this has only been for a little over a week but I see no issue with it.

I shut off the power to my system numerous times to see how it would start back up and everything always came back working fine.

I ran my tank through ever overflow scenerio. Clogged overflow, power outage, etc. and had no issues at all (I designed the sump right).

I have seen a lot of people say bad things about the CPR overflow vs the Lifereef one, but I honestly have no idea what is wrong with the CPR.

Mine is totally silent, no splashing or gurgling, keeps siphon after power outage, and flows plenty.

[frank2926]

These work better and are cheaper. if that aqualifter gets a clog it stops working dumping some water on the floor.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...overflows&Np=1

They say your level of experience in this hobby is measured by how many times you have flooded your floor .

I have an ark in my fish room.

[frank2926]

funny but I just stumbled on this thread and quote in the equipment forum.

Originally posted by DarG
yeah, ditch it and get a properly designed U-tube type. I ditched mine before disaster struck. No matter what you do to clear the air it's a flood waiting to happen. I wouldnt even sell my used CPR, I would feel guilty passing it along to anyone else.

[werkkrew]

I still dont understand how it could cause a flood.

The ones you linked to above do look nice, however.

[frank2926]

if the aqua lifter clogs it is very easy for it to lose suction on the syphon. When this happens your return pump continues to pump water back into your tank without any more water leaving it.
Imagine stopping your overflow then dumping all of the water from your sump back into your tank.

[kc9dre]

If the over stops flowing, and you still pump water into the tank then it overfows over the overflow... Been there, done that... I still have my CPR and as stated it works at the moment, but vacation looms ahead. I still have to replace the floor in the kitchen from an RO/DI incident that I had a while back....

[orbit]

yea thats the problem i dont understand about the crp overflow box

if u need air to start the overflow, once the power goes out, the air pump will go out as well, therefore the overflow will stop sucking up water. right? or am i completely wrong?

this is my first overflow box so i dont know how it works

as for a return pump what are some recommendations? i think since i dont ahve much experiment with pcv pipes. since alot of ppl dont have much problem with plastic tubing, i guess ill give plastic tubing a try.

so my basic set up doesnt have much 90 degree angles, i used RC's head loss calculation and got this "Total losses are 3.93 feet of head pressure, or 1.7 PSI. with a flow rate of 312 GPH. Process took 115 iterations. "

this is with a mag 5 pump and vertical of 3.5 ft

does that like a good pump for my setup?

[orbit]

o also instead of using a air pump i figure i connect one end of the air tube to the maxijet( a 230 in tank one) and one end to the overflow box

can i do that?

[reefkeeper135]

CPR caused nothing but problems for, tried using the aqua lifter...what a JOKE!! switched to a "Lifereef" and LOVE it never a problem and very quiet, plus I like the black internal box.

[frank2926]

I would look at an Ehiem or quiet one pump. I usually recommend an ocean runner but the smallest one they make is to much flow your setup. They are large in size as well. So do the ehiem if you can.
when you do your plumbing try to put in some flex pvc or tubing out of the pump . It will cut down on noise by lowering the vibration in the plumbing.

[werkkrew]

Okay, I couldnt sleep right thinking about the CPR so I just did a test.

If I unplug the aqualifter only, no problems. Siphon is maintained.

If I unplug the hose coming out of the CPR box into the aqualifter, siphon is lost and that is definetly a problem. I can see how that could definetly cause an overflow but unless someone came into my house with a pair of scissors I cant really see how that could ever happen.

I see why people recommend aganst this unit now.

That being said, I just put a check valve in the air inlet to the aqualifter and tested it again. Unplugged the air tube into the lifter, siphon isnt lost.

This at least gives me some more peace of mind.

I might have to upgrade this unit at some point.

That being said, in the event of power outages and such the aqualifter works great. How does the lifereef version keep siphon in a power outage?

[sjm817]

A failure on the CPR isn't necessarily an instant occurrence, If the aqualifter fails by a pump failure, line clog, air nipple clog, the overflow will gradually accumulate air in the C Channel causing an eventual failure. It may be be 1 hr, it may be 1 day, but it will happen. They are very poor overflows.

[orbit]

okay i might go with the lifereef (Nano-Prefilter)

what does it mean when they said inner box? do i need that?

since the flow of this one is 400, the mag 5 will be not enough

i looked at eheim(635) and quiet pump(780) , but the flow rate is way too much

what pump are left?

[frank2926]

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...ory_Code=Eheim

[frank2926]

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=quietone

[werkkrew]

I use a Rio pump which works great. Its a little noisy though.

Mine is a 12HF but they have much smaller ones you might take a look at.

[frank2926]

rios are very bad news. Do a search on them.

[werkkrew]

I cant search it always says I need to be a premium member.

Apparently everything I bought is bad news.

[frank2926]

Sorry.
We all did when we started.
We all do the second tank right

[werkkrew]

Its ok, so far the only mistakes I think I have made are in my choice of return pump brand name and my overflow box.

If/when the pump fails, I will replace it. I was playing with the idea of using a smaller return pump to quiet things down anyhow and getting a couple of powerheads.

As for the overflow box, I will run that risk for a while and just make sure I keep an eye on it. I will likely swap that out later or before I go on any sort of extended vacation.

[frank2926]

Do not sit on the Rio pump. When they go it is a disaster. They burn up and send toxins into your tank. This was from a year or so ago.
There were lots of people that had this problem. It may have been corrected with newer pumps, but I do not know for sure .
I would rather wait on the overflow than the pump. Overflow fails you get some water on the floor. Pump goes,. you will lose most of your live stock. The pumps I linked above are not that expensive and they will be more quiet than the rio.

[frank2926]

I did a search on Rio pumps ( RC search not working now for me)
this is what I found. I copied and pasted it.

Rio Aqua Pumps/Powerheads
From Stan & Debbie Hauter,
Your Guide to Saltwater Aquariums.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Guide Rating - rating
The Bottom Line
Rio Aqua Pumps/Powerheads deliver high pressure water for most tank functions. They should not be used for constant on/off functions such as wavemakers. These units are known to fail and leak lubricants back into tanks.
Compare Prices
Pros

* Titanium shaft.
* Excellent head pressure.

Cons

* Should not be used for constant on/off functions.
* Require frequent maintenance
* Known to fail and leak lubricants back into tanks

[sjm817]

Originally posted by orbit


since the flow of this one is 400, the mag 5 will be not enough

Good choice on the LR overflow. Why do you say the Mag5 is not enough? I'm not a big mag fan, but it would work fine.