Return pump quandary

I am having a small glitch with my return pump design.

I currently have a Reeflo Manta Ray, which is a powerhouse to be sure, but is in need of new bearings and pump rebuild. Reeflo will do a rebuild and rewarranty for $180.

My questions is...

Is there a DC pump out there that would work about as well with 15' of head?

The Red Dragon is supposed to be a great pump, but the $800 price tag has me balking just a bit.

 

15 ft of vertical head?

If so, any way to shorten it up a bit?

I'm getting awesome crazy flow out of my DC12000, but it's 1'5" return pipe, and only 10 ft head with 2 x 90 degree bends on that to go up and over my DT.
Currently running it at 5/6 setting, and it's great flow. ~ 700gph at the 5/6 setting
I think 15' would ber maxing it out and not much flow.

 

Yup... 15ft of vertical head. 8 ft basement then 6 ft to top of tank... close enough anyways.

Todd, I have been eyeing the DC12000. The apex control ability has me intrigued.

I currently have a barracuda running on a VFD for my Closed loop. I am thinking about moving the barracuda down to the basement for the return and replace the VFD with the apex controlled DC12000.

Do you have yours hooked up to a controller?

 

Has anyone tried doing a relay pump? My thought is similar to what fire departments do when they have a long hose lay. The first pump at the hydrant feeds a second pump that then sends the water to the truck close to the fire. I ve never seen anyone do it with a fish tank but the theory should be the same unless my brain is not working well and i m missing something obvious!

 

dienerman... I have not seen that exact setup before.... but have seen what they are calling a booster pump. Just a second pump next the the main pump, usually smaller, but not necessarily, just to boost the output a little.

This however won't help me. My problem is that I have 1 non-functioning pump to begin with. I could possibly get two smaller pumps and do a relay setup, I just have never seen one on a reef tank before.

 

I knew that my response was not a direct answer to your question. It just got me thinking a bit when you spoke of 15 ft head. $180 sounds much better than $800 but i wonder if working the pump that hard with 15ft head could lead to early failure. Im sure someone who knows these things better will be able to answer that question for you. Im interested to hear what you do because a basement sump would work very well in my house!!

 

Can you raise the height of your sump? Don't forget, the level of water in your sump subtracts from the total head height.

 

Ok... Decided to go ahead and order a new pump instead of rebuilding the one I have. Ended up ordering a Waveline DC12000 which puts out 3170 GPH at a very nice 170Watts of power.

I will end up using this as my closed loop pump, and move the closed loop pump down to the basement.

There is a very wide range of reviews on this pump, but they are on generation II and seem to have most of the kinks worked out. We will soon see.

I am and electrical guru as far as handymen go..... and will try and "hack" into the controller to make it connect with the Apex. Should allow me to run it just like a Vortech.... I stress the Should.

Waveline DC12000 Internal/External Pump w/Controller