Another Sump / Flow question

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

One thing to consider when going with high flow through the sump is that your return pump is going 24/7 so the higher the flow, usually the more electricity you'll use. Just discussed online with another reefer how his hydro bill went up $100 due to his tank and he had a Mag18 on a ~45g display which uses almost three times the electricity of the much smaller return pump on my 165g display (90g wide sump). Our hydro bill went up 7% this past month and so having a powerhog of a return pump going 24/7 is a real concern for me.

Just a thought.

[Myka]

Electricity is one thing to consider when choosing a return pump. Here, it costs 11.35 cents per kWh. So for every 100 watts run 24/7 it costs about $100 per year for me. I have a hard time believing a 45 gallon tank would cost $100 per month though. If all devices on my tank (powerheads, skimmer, heater, lights, and pumps) ran 24/7 on my 90 gallon reef it wouldn't cost me $100/month.

Here is a nifty calculator:
http://www.citytrf.net/costs_calculator.htm

Another drawback to more flow through the sump is that the higher flow usually drags microbubbles with it which get chopped up even further in your return pump and blown into your tank. This affects the visual clarity of your tank, and irritates from corals.

[ensquire]

Originally Posted by Myka

Electricity is one thing to consider when choosing a return pump. Here, it costs 11.35 cents per kWh. So for every 100 watts run 24/7 it costs about $100 per year for me. I have a hard time believing a 45 gallon tank would cost $100 per month though. If all devices on my tank (powerheads, skimmer, heater, lights, and pumps) ran 24/7 on my 90 gallon reef it wouldn't cost me $100/month.

Here is a nifty calculator:
http://www.citytrf.net/costs_calculator.htm

Another drawback to more flow through the sump is that the higher flow usually drags microbubbles with it which get chopped up even further in your return pump and blown into your tank. This affects the visual clarity of your tank, and irritates from corals.

What pump are you running??

[ensquire]

Originally Posted by sphelps

what size is your back up drain?

1" Emergency drain, could swap them, I suppose. Probably fine the way it is.

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

One thing to consider when going with high flow through the sump is that your return pump is going 24/7 so the higher the flow, usually the more electricity you'll use. Just discussed online with another reefer how his hydro bill went up $100 due to his tank and he had a Mag18 on a ~45g display which uses almost three times the electricity of the much smaller return pump on my 165g display (90g wide sump). Our hydro bill went up 7% this past month and so having a powerhog of a return pump going 24/7 is a real concern for me.

Just a thought.

HMMMMMM, yeah . Not really sure if I want me power bill to go much higher. The DC pump uses 40W at full speed.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by ensquire

1" Emergency drain, could swap them, I suppose. Probably fine the way it is

would be a good idea to switch, the emergency drain determines your max flow rate and they don't usually run full siphon. Close your gate valve completely and then determine your max flow rate.

[ensquire]

My biggest concern is just this.

This nice big 1 1/2" pipe



Turns into this narrow 1/4" slit at the gate valve.



Wouldn't take much to plug that up.
I found a couple of reducers. I will try downsizing to 1" on the drain and see if that changes.

Sorry about the size of pics didn't get them downsized before posting