opposite number says put sump in the basement: now what?

[Sk8r]

Here's the situation: a straight drop to a basement, then a right angle through the wall to the sump, and back up again for the return line.

What am I looking at? I assume it's going to take a bigger pump, ergo bigger sump than the 10g job I've got. What can lift water 3 feet to the tank + 8 feet to the basement + 4 foot ell including a bend into the sump? That's 15 feet, with enough velocity left to serve a 52g tank.

And the downfall: it's a reef-ready tank, with the usual 1 1/2 inch downflow hose. If this went to a 1 1/2 pipe in the floor and followed the same course, how hard is it going to hit 8 feet down below where it has to make the same ell-bend before exiting into the sump. Are we apt to have the gurgle from hell?

The good news is, I get a new sump that will accommodate everything, plus a refugium. But I'm suddenly dealing with distances and situations I've never dealt with before.

[Sk8r]

Here's what I'm thinking:
I have a 52g bowfront. I drill through floor for 2 lines, one for the downflow, one for return. I sleeve the downflow ribbed hose onto a pvc downflow of 1 1/2 inches and it falls a foot, then L across to unfinished basement about 4 feet, counting second elbow of 5-6 feet to sump inflow.

I extract water via hard pvc pipe to pump, hard pvc pipe upstairs via same set of bends, 6 feet up to ceiling, across 4 feet to other room of basement: up one foot to first floor, where it attaches to flex line via hose clamp, and runs up another 3 feet to the tank.

Pump: Iwaki 70? aircooled? How is the water going to behave on the downflow? Any experience in this problem out there in RC?

[tgunn]

A pcx-4, or pcx-55 is about all you will need. I am running a PCX-70 on my 140 and my fishroom is under the tank in the basement. WAY too much flow though my 100g sump for my liking..

I kept with all 2" pipe for the long runs, but if you use 1 1/2" you'll be more than fine. I've got a few 90s in my run and it makes no real diff with the larger diameter piping.

What kind of overflow drains are you going to run? Dursos?

Tyler

[Sk8r]

Yes, it's a durso. This is a corner bowfront 52g, and all I've got is a 10g sump. I plan to get a larger one.

[tgunn]

Originally posted by Sk8r
Yes, it's a durso. This is a corner bowfront 52g, and all I've got is a 10g sump. I plan to get a larger one.

I'd plug a PCX-40 into the head loss calculator and see what flow you come up with.

Keep in mind that head is measured from the surface of the water in the lowest tank to the surface of water in the higher tank.

In my case I ended up oversizing considerably because I didn't realize that. My return pump is under the sump (due to space constraints in fish room and bad pipe layout), so I measured from there to the highest point the pipes went upstairs at the tank. However, my ACTUAL head is probably 3 1/2 feet less than that. Makes a BIG difference in the pump flow calculations...

Even with my 100g sump I had to dial back the pcx-70 to keep microbubbles from the skimmer from making their way back into the tank.

If I was to do it all over again I'd use a PCX-40 in my setup for the return pump.. I've got a huge closed loop that provides more than enough flow for everything.

Tyler

[Sk8r]

Very, very helpful. Thank you very much.

[Sk8r]

Plumber's saying about 180.00 labor to put closed loop dual line through floor, across short ceiling, through wall, down wall and back. This may work. Now if I can get my lfs to get the appropriate pump here in time, and get the movers to move the tank...