Submersible Pump, how mang watts should i buy for 20 gallon overhead sump?
- Thread starter your_animes
- Start date
I can afford one but i really dont know exactly what powerhead should i buy as a return cause i might buy one thats too weak or too strong which will cause a problem. This sump is mainly for my flowerhorn fish for shows and stuff
The question is more complex than that and you're on the front end of what could be a fairly cool project but part of that project is going to be figuring out how this works and why rather than a simple answer as to how many watts you need for a pump. I'll give you a quick explanation of what I mean...
Assuming a 20g display tank and an approximately 13g sump consider the following:
- What are you keeping in the display tank?
- How dirty are they?
- Can they handle significant flow rates or are you looking for something pretty sedate?
- You control flow w/ a valve and you'll probably want two of them on this unit; one for incoming and one for exiting flow
- Sumps generally are low flow filters and rushing water through them is less efficient and less effective than a slower rate of turnover. They both do the same trick but a higher flow rate means you pay more to operate the faster rate of flow but don't get better efficacy from it compared to the slower sump w/ a smaller pump (within reason). What does that mean? It means that for a standard HOB or canister I'd prefer a minimum of 10x flow rate but for a sump I might be happy w/ a 5x, in part because sumps are gigantic in comparison to the volume of filter media in a typical HOB or even a canister.
- You can restrict flow from a pump but not to a pump. Stated differently, you can restrict rate of flow on the output side of the pump w/ a valve but you don't want the valve on the front side of that pump or you could starve the pump and shorten its life.
- You want to be able to control the flow from the display to the sump w/ a valve and you will probably need to adjust it every day, maybe more often as a small tank may have more significant changes daily than might a larger tank.
Do you already have a plan for the design of the sump? What are you keeping in the display and how messy are they? You mention that you're planning an overhead sump so I'm guessing you have considered that a powerhead (probably w/ a mag base) is just about your only option as your system will work in reverse order to the typical unit.
Now... not knowing any of that stuff and just taking a stab at it?
I'd say buy or borrow from a buddy a small powerhead and run it through a valve to restrict flow. There will be as much art as science in setting this up right and part of it will be bit of trial and error. Assuming you're not averse to a 10x flow rate note that you'll need a powerhead that will flow 200g per hour... which is going to be in the neighborhood of a ten watt powerhead, something like this:
If you're unfamiliar w/ pump lift specifications note that you'll want to tell us what the vertical distance is between your intended powerhead and the top of the sump. There are even a couple of assumptions in that statement so the short version is, draw us a pic of what you're thinking, scan it in and post it here. We'll all gawk at it for a minute and you'll wind up w/ a ton of questions and suggestions that will help you get it right.
Assuming a 20g display tank and an approximately 13g sump consider the following:
- What are you keeping in the display tank?
- How dirty are they?
- Can they handle significant flow rates or are you looking for something pretty sedate?
- You control flow w/ a valve and you'll probably want two of them on this unit; one for incoming and one for exiting flow
- Sumps generally are low flow filters and rushing water through them is less efficient and less effective than a slower rate of turnover. They both do the same trick but a higher flow rate means you pay more to operate the faster rate of flow but don't get better efficacy from it compared to the slower sump w/ a smaller pump (within reason). What does that mean? It means that for a standard HOB or canister I'd prefer a minimum of 10x flow rate but for a sump I might be happy w/ a 5x, in part because sumps are gigantic in comparison to the volume of filter media in a typical HOB or even a canister.
- You can restrict flow from a pump but not to a pump. Stated differently, you can restrict rate of flow on the output side of the pump w/ a valve but you don't want the valve on the front side of that pump or you could starve the pump and shorten its life.
- You want to be able to control the flow from the display to the sump w/ a valve and you will probably need to adjust it every day, maybe more often as a small tank may have more significant changes daily than might a larger tank.
Do you already have a plan for the design of the sump? What are you keeping in the display and how messy are they? You mention that you're planning an overhead sump so I'm guessing you have considered that a powerhead (probably w/ a mag base) is just about your only option as your system will work in reverse order to the typical unit.
Now... not knowing any of that stuff and just taking a stab at it?
I'd say buy or borrow from a buddy a small powerhead and run it through a valve to restrict flow. There will be as much art as science in setting this up right and part of it will be bit of trial and error. Assuming you're not averse to a 10x flow rate note that you'll need a powerhead that will flow 200g per hour... which is going to be in the neighborhood of a ten watt powerhead, something like this:
If you're unfamiliar w/ pump lift specifications note that you'll want to tell us what the vertical distance is between your intended powerhead and the top of the sump. There are even a couple of assumptions in that statement so the short version is, draw us a pic of what you're thinking, scan it in and post it here. We'll all gawk at it for a minute and you'll wind up w/ a ton of questions and suggestions that will help you get it right.
Yeah, Flower Horn. You said that. Not sure why I didn't catch that before. Sorry.
Another thought might be to keep a little higher flow rate in the 20g (closer to 10x than 5x) because FH's are prone to digestive blockages and keeping them moving helps to keep their pipes clean. I've only had one FH so you may want to run that by an FH enthusiast first as I don't qualify as one myself.
Another thought might be to keep a little higher flow rate in the 20g (closer to 10x than 5x) because FH's are prone to digestive blockages and keeping them moving helps to keep their pipes clean. I've only had one FH so you may want to run that by an FH enthusiast first as I don't qualify as one myself.
