Badly Need Pump Help

Charlie_Tuna · #1 10-13-2007, 06:39 PM

I recently purchased a 225 gallon tank c/w 80 gallon sump and pump. The pump is a Little Giant 3-MDQX-SC (1150gph @ 0' head).

It will be facing 4-5' head pressure which I believe will reduce output to about 900gph.

The tank has dual overflows which will each have a Durso and feed a DIY bio-tower into a common sump.

Is this pump strong enough or should I consider a new pump with stronger output?

It has been suggested that just add a second pump. Would that not mean that I would have to throttle back my pump(s) to avoid overwhelming the overflows?

I am new to this sump game and could really use your help. I have posted this issue on other forums and have yet to get a worthwhile response.

Thanks.

mr_alberta · #2 10-13-2007, 06:50 PM

That pump should be enough for your tank. You don't need a lot of water flowing back down into your sump and back up again. You should be aiming at 4-5X maximum turnover of your net water volume from your tank through your sump (unless you are going with a bare bottom method--I believe they like to employ high flow return pumps to wash most of the debris/detritus from the display into the sump and skimmer).

The main bulk of your flow should come mainly from closed loops, waveboxes or powerheads.

mark · #3 10-13-2007, 07:51 PM

I believe along the same lines as Mr_Alberta, limit flow to the sump but rely on CL or something like Tunzes Streams to up the flow within tank.

I'm using a CL (with ~1000gph through my sump) but look at Niloc16 thread and his switch CL to Streams starting around pg10 if noise a concern.