got given a sump but reef is established already

ok i looked it up on ebay and its 50 bucks, and its say the flow rate is 300 gph, and its usage is 75 gallons. so couldnt i just use a rio 600 and pu like a ball valve or somthing on it to slow the flow or would i just have to get a 300 gph powerhead. i think it would be easier to use the rio 600 cuase then you have a good amount of wiggle roo i guess you could say meaning you can adjust it alot, so there you go, what you guys think

 

The ball valve with the Rio would be a good idea, if it could handle 200+ gph after the loss from pumping up to the tank. You should get a bigger pump than the Rio, IMO, or you won't get a sufficient flow up to your tank, if any at all.

 

so its called the pf 300 and it has a max flow rate of 300 gph so could i just get a rio 600 and get a ball vavle or somthing on there so i can adjust the flow, if i do that then i dont got to buy a new 300 powerhead. and how would you setup this thing anyway, so far i would say get my sumps water mixed up and at the right level in the sump then just fire up the overflow or pump?

 

whopps i just posted like two things that are the same sorry. so a rio 600 wouldnt be enough, i also have a rio 800 and a rio 2500 but the 2500 might be overkill?

 

You can use whatever you want. It's the practical application that may screw you up. Let me explain:

I originally had a QuietOne 1200 pump rated at 295 gph at zero head as my return pump. I thought it worked pretty well, but had one reoccurring problem. Bubbles getting trapped at the high point in the u-tube. If left alone I feared it could eventually lose it's prime in the event of a power failure (losing the prime was never a problem during operation). This would be an illustration of user error. No matter what the manufacturer claimed as the gph rating, it was the gph at 40 inches of head that mattered. Don't get me wrong, the QuietOne is a very good pump, just not for what I was using it for (now being used instead of a Maxijet 1200 on my AquaC Remora skimmer for almost 2 years without issues). When I switched out the QuietOne for the Mag 3 that came with the used AquaC Remora skimmer, WOW! What a difference. It's rated at (I believe) 350 gph at zero head. Compared to the rating on the first pump, it wasn't much different. Too bad the pumps weren't being used at zero head, as then either one would have worked. At 40 inches the Mag 3 just smokes the QuietOne. The flow through the u-tube was almost twice what it was with the QuietOne. Since that switch I've had zero air bubbles in the u-tube and zero maintenance needed to keep the overflow working properly. I'm not kidding. In almost 2 years I've done exactly NOTHING to the overflow. It just works.

My point? Get/use a pump that is larger than 300 gph and use a ball-valve to throttle it back enough (if needed) that no air stays in the u-tube (with enough flow it will never be an issue). Or get a Mag 3 and no throttling is needed. I don't know think either the Rio 600 or 800 will be enough to keep the air bubbles out. The 2500 definitely will be, but it will probably be overkill for this application. But if you already have it and don't want to spend the money for a Mag 3, then try it.

 

I had my sump empty and just partially opened the ball-valve on my drain line and let it fill. At some point the level in the DT dropped enough that no more water was going thru the overflow and down the drain into my sump. Not a problem. I just added more salt water to the DT until the sump area just started overflowing the last baffle and into the return pump area. I then stopped and waited about 30 minutes for the sand to settle down. When it was mostly clear again I started adding more salt water. Once the return area was about half full, I turned on the return pump and waited for the DT and sump to equalize. The return pump started to suck air, so I added some more water, but this time I slowly added it to the sump so as to not stir up the sand bed anymore than it already was. Once the return pump area was at about 3/4 the height of the sump area, I let it run for a few minutes to make sure it stabilized. At this point I turned the pump off and let the DT drain into the sump until the siphon broke (on the return line). I wanted to make sure, in case of a power failure, that I wouldn't overflow the sump. Once I saw how much room I still had, I knew it was safe to add more water to get the return pump area to within 1 inch of the sump area. I marked that as "MAX" on the side of the sump so I never fill above that line. I marked "MIN" at about 1 inch higher than the top of the return pump casing. This gives me about 6 inches of leeway between max and min, more than enough to make it thru a 24 hour period before I need to top it off with fresh water. You don't have to follow those guidelines, that's just what worked for me.

Hope that helped.

 

you just need to find a pump that matches the flow rate of your overflow. Remeber to calculate head pressure too. if anything you would probably want to get a pump that has more flow, so you can tune it down with a gate valve. When the flow is fast enough the u tube will not lose siphon.

 

ok i understand pretty much. ill have to experiment with another tank outside to get it right? here is my sump, ok there is the overflow area where the overflow water goes down into the sump this area is about 6 inches wide and 14 inches tall. then there is the middle section where the reffugium will hopfully be, this area is 12inches wide and 14 inches tallbiut the next baffle that leads to the return area has an open space for a spounge or foam thing under the baffle then after that baffle it leads to the return area this area is 7 inches wide. so how do i determine how high the water has to be in my sump?

 

I dont know of a good way to calculate that. What I did was set it all up and get it running and then turn off the pump, watch the water level in the sump, water from back siphon and whats left in the overflow will come down and fill the return chamber. You will want the water level to go to the top point of the chamber with the return pump off. that would be your max water level.