20 ft. of head pressure?

1046 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by allendavant, Oct 8, 2012

allendavant

Discussion Starter · Oct 2, 2012

I just moved into my new house and I decided to put my 29 gallon bio cube in my bedroom. I have a sump in the stand and it is a little noisy. I am thinking about setting up a basement supm for it, but it will have to pump up two stories. I think it will be about 20 feet. What kind of pump do I need to buy that can hanle that kind of head pressure? Are there any problems I will encounter? Excess heat? Excess electricity to run? Is this even doable? Anyone with experience with this that can give me some advice?

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

stunreefer

· #2 · Oct 2, 2012

You would need something like a Reeflo Barracuda/Hammerhead to handle 20' of head pressure alone.

There would still be noise from draining down 20', honestly for a bio cube cost effectiveness and ease wise it would certainly be better trying to quiet down your existing set-up.

AYGurgies

· #3 · Oct 2, 2012

The easiest and the cheapest way is to use earing plugs when you go to bed instead of running a sump 20' away from the tank. Lol. I don't think this will work brother (Cost wise). In addition, if i'm not mistaken, most of the pumps handle 16.5' at the most. Have you ever thought about what's causing the noise in your sump and trying to reduce? I think that will be alot easier, better, safer and more efficient.

Reactions: 1

carlitofishguy

· #4 · Oct 2, 2012 (Edited)

I think you will have major heat problem unless you use a very large sump. if something gets caught in the overflow all that sump water will be on your floor. there are pump that would do it and i think at that point you would also maybe need a chiller. Try putting some floss around your pump without impeding your flow. that should get rid of the vibrations. also i like the little rio pumps as they can be quiet!!! I think you have a good question.

allendavant

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 2, 2012

I know there are some things I could probably do to quiet it down, but I guess I should have explained that there are a few other reasons why I want to go with a basement sump other than just noise. I used to have a basement sump on my 90 gallon and I loved it. Also I am going to be adding a calcium reactor next week and I don't want to have that equipment sitting on the floor next to the tank. I also have an auto top off resevior that I don't want sitting next to the tank either. It is also so much easier to do water changes with a basement sump, plus I don't want to slop water on the nice hard wood flooors when I do water changes. I also am going to want the increased water volume from the sump. The sump I am using right now only holds about 10 gallons, and I want to use the sump I have, that I used to use for my 90 gallon, that is much bigger.

I did some searching online and found that the reeflo blowhole bh850 has a max head pressure of 26 feet. At 22 feet it will push just uner 400 gph at 96 watts. I know it will cost me a little more in electricity, but I think it will be worth it.

The thought of the tank overflowing does worry me a little bit, but I am considering buying an Apex anyway, so I might just get one that way I can hook up the wet floor sensor in case I do over flow the tank it will shut the pump off.

See less See more

on the spot

· #6 · Oct 2, 2012

I wouldn't do it, and I'm a basement sump guy too. A calcium reactor on such a small volume may be way more than necessary. How are you managing your alkalinity needs now?

I'd look at stacking your gear better

. It'll fit in the stand. At worst a 4" PVC tube plugged and capped, painted to coordinate can hold a fair amount of water - perhaps a peristaltic continuous water change set-up so you have no slopping.

mf2055

· #7 · Oct 3, 2012

REEFLO meant for larger volume, not nessessarily pressure. I have a blueline 100 that can push water 40+ foot in the air... less watts than reeflow too... but wouldn't it be more cost effective to put all your stuff in a closit or cabinet or run the sump horizontal from the tank into another room instead of all the way to the basement? The drain line would likely rattle the house unless set up just perfect anyway. Best of luck any way you go about it.

allendavant

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 3, 2012

Well first of all trust me, there is no room in the stand. The sump fits very snugly in the stand and I'm running a filter sock, a protein skimmer rated for 90 gallons, a bio pellet reactor and a phosban reactor, the return pump and a heater. The tank is full of SPS. I have one Ricordia as well as a colony of Bam Bams, but other than that it is full of SPS and I have been dosing a lot and I'm extremely sick of it. It is ending up costing a lot of money and I think once I am over the initial cost of the equipment, the Calcium reactor will be a lot less expensive to run and my system will be a lot more stable. I am also going to be keeping a Cuttle fish in the tank soon and I think the additional water volume will be extremely beneficial. I will also be able to house feeder shrimp in the sump

I would post a picture of my stand so you could see how packed with equipment it is, but I am on my phone right now because I just moved into a new house and the internet is not going to be hooked up until tomorrow. If you want to see it though, I have pictures of it on the build thread in the member's tanks that I posted in the spring.

Also, there is a crawl space right next to my room that has an access door so it is easily accessible and it has an area right next to where the tank is going to be that drops down all the way to the basement so it will be very easy to run the plumbing

See less See more

allendavant

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 3, 2012

OK, I guess if I can figure out how to quiet the sump down that I have under the tank, I could maybe put the calcium reactor in the crawl space, behind the wall it will be sitting in front of. The two problems with doing this are that the crawl space is uninsulated and the access door is tiny and hard to get through.I guess I could re arrange my room and put it on the other side and then there would be an attic on the other side of the wall so there will be a bigger door, but it will still be uninsulated.

tdb560reef

· #10 · Oct 3, 2012

Imo

IMO Id upgrade to a larger tank or a corner 54 or 90 and use the space in the stand if your willing to put up the costs. Also, Perhaps you have a closet and if your hooked on your BC put the sump in there and the BC on the outside wall.

I had a 54G corner in my studio apartment back in the day (90's) and it was perfect for the small space with enough space for the WetDry + skimmer.

Reactions: 1

mf2055

· #11 · Oct 4, 2012

You could put all your equipment, sump and other stuff in the crawl space on a cart that would roll in and out. Would just have to pipe it in with hose rather than PVC. Obvously it would have to be a well made cart, but when it was time to work on stuff you could roll it right into the middle of the room.... would be easier than having it under the tank or in the basement... would just need to find a cart of proper size for the opening and maybe throw some insulation at the crawl space.

allendavant

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 4, 2012

mf2055 said:
You could put all your equipment, sump and other stuff in the crawl space on a cart that would roll in and out. Would just have to pipe it in with hose rather than PVC. Obvously it would have to be a well made cart, but when it was time to work on stuff you could roll it right into the middle of the room.... would be easier than having it under the tank or in the basement... would just need to find a cart of proper size for the opening and maybe throw some insulation at the crawl space.

Well I might consider this, but there is no floor in the crawl space and the door to get into it is tiny. Its barely big enough for a grown man to fit through. If I went this route I would have to do a lot of work to make it happen. The reason I am considering it is that I was already thinking about making it into a storage space with a bigger door. But honestly right now I think I'm probably going to go with the basement sump. I don't think the Reeflo Blow Hole at 96 watts is going to cost that much to run. It will certainly be less money than my 90 gallon was to operate with 2 250 watt metal halies 2 54 watt T5s 250 watt heater and a chiller. My 29 gallon is alreay very energy efficient with 24 3 watt cree LEDs.

allendavant

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 4, 2012

tdb180reef said:
IMO Id upgrade to a larger tank or a corner 54 or 90 and use the space in the stand if your willing to put up the costs. Also, Perhaps you have a closet and if your hooked on your BC put the sump in there and the BC on the outside wall.

I had a 54G corner in my studio apartment back in the day (90's) and it was perfect for the small space with enough space for the WetDry + skimmer.

Well I still have my 90 gallon and all of my equipment for it. The only reason I shut that down was that I moved in april and was at a temporary house all summer and just moved again last weekend. I didn't want to move my 90 gallon twice in a year. I am planning on setting it back up as soon as I can, but it might be a while before that happens. I do really love my bio cube though. It has 24 3 watt crees and it is great for SPS. When I do set my 90 gallon back up I think I am going to keep the bio cube and use the same sump for both. The bio cube is going to be my cuttlefish tank. I have done a lot of research and 30 gallons is perfect for a Seppia Bandensis (Dwarf Cuttle)

masonite

· #14 · Oct 6, 2012

I had a 600 gallon reef with a 3600 dolphin pump. Thats 3600 gallons per hour flowing thru the tank. Thats a lot of water dropping down to the basement. But when people came over, they would ask if the pumps were on. All you could hear was the trickle of the water at the surface. It sounded one of those little water features people get for background noise. Here's what I did. Ran 3 seperate drain lines, lined the inside of the cabinet with sound deadening board and carpet padding, screwed the doors on to make it real tight, there was no water under there anyway, used durso overflows, covered the spot above the overflow with a piece of styrofoam, and used soft plumbing up to the spot where it went straight down to the basement so I could make "S" shapes in the lines, then hard plumbing from there.
Worked for me.

allendavant

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 8, 2012

masonite said:
I had a 600 gallon reef with a 3600 dolphin pump. Thats 3600 gallons per hour flowing thru the tank. Thats a lot of water dropping down to the basement. But when people came over, they would ask if the pumps were on. All you could hear was the trickle of the water at the surface. It sounded one of those little water features people get for background noise. Here's what I did. Ran 3 seperate drain lines, lined the inside of the cabinet with sound deadening board and carpet padding, screwed the doors on to make it real tight, there was no water under there anyway, used durso overflows, covered the spot above the overflow with a piece of styrofoam, and used soft plumbing up to the spot where it went straight down to the basement so I could make "S" shapes in the lines, then hard plumbing from there.
Worked for me.

Why did you need to make S shapes in the lines? Does that cut down on noise?

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.