Broken Pump and replumbing Sump

[CherylMcKay]

I was doing some cleaning and broke my pump. I am frusterated with plumbing the sump and how messy it ends up being.... I have a couple of questions as I need a new pump anyways.

1. It is a 75 Gallon Tank and a 20 Gallon sump. What would be a good pump for this. I will need to order 2 as I don't have a LFS that has salt water products.... so price may play a part.

2. What do you use to plumb in the sump... hose or pvc. I currently had the pump outside the tank and it returned through the UV sterilizer and then back to the tank. At the tank I changed it from hose to PVC as I build my own return into the tank.

3. When returning water to the tank, I have heard that it should be slow through the sump and faster in the tank... How do you get that to work? Is it with smaller pipes out of the sump or how do you regulate the flow.

I have had no ends of problems since I got this sump and started to try and get it running on the tank. I had to drain and recycle the tank as I had to cut a hole in the stand to get the sump in. My tank has been really unstable and I have had multiple plumbing failures on the tank. Any suggestions or good reference material would be awesome as my husband and I are getting quite frusterated with the expense and the failures.

[Cal_stir]

I use a combination of pvc and hose, my drains are 1 1\2" tigerflex(it can be glued to PVC fittings), my pump in is PVC with a rubber coupling for vibration, my pump out is a PVC ball valve with tigerflex from the ball valve to a PVC header, there I branch off with hose to my returns in the tank.
A 20 gallon sump can't afford you much flow, about 400 to 500 GPH(IMO), the rest of the flow would have to be accomplished with powerheads or a closedloop circuit.
Plumb your pump in with a valve that allows you to bypass the returns and go back to the sump, that way if your pump is to big you can control the flow with the bypass, I prefer to run my pumps full open, and if you do cut it back always cut back the outlet never restrict the inlet.
I never shut my pumps off, I put them in bypass.

[CherylMcKay]

I have ordered a Sedra KSP-7000 Water pump and hopefully it will be here quickly. I am assuming by Tigerflex you mean a PVC type hose... I ordered Tetra Pond Tubing which looks similar to what I found when I looked up Tigerflex. Where can you get Tigerflex? (I usually order out of Vancouver)

I had not thought about using a bypass instead of just restricting flow... How far apart do you have your Ball valves for the Bypass or do you just have the ball valve on the bypass line after the T connector?

I have managed to jerry rig my pump together with putty epoxy and while it is still dripping but I can catch it and hopefully it will keep my sump active until the new pump comes. If I loose this pump what is the best way to keep my sump from sitting stagnant and me loosing the live rock?

Thanks for your help.

[Cal_stir]

yes, tigerflex is pvc and is usually available at pool and spa stores.

the ball valves can as close as you like, whatever is most convenient.

put a powerhead and or an airstone in the sump to keep the water moving, if you have an insump skimmer, run it, dry skim.

[George]

I bought my flex PVC type hose from new line (http://new-line.com). They have 2 offices locally, one in Burnaby and another one in Langley. I am sure they do mail order too.
I used something called spa flex. I think that's the stuff that most people use when they need flexible tubing for their aquarium. Look under their water suction hose catalog. It has both tigerflex and spa flex listed there.

[CherylMcKay]

Thanks for your help. I will look shipping of the hose. I have just been using clear vinyl hose from Home Hardware, I was going to look at Pex but all the fittings I found were metal so vinyl it was.

Looks like my pump has arrived already, I will have to get some parts and start plumbing again. I may have some more questions as I am dry fitting everything together. Again thanks for your help.

[Cal_stir]

vinyl hose is fine, the only problem is if it is clear and exposed to light some algae can grow in it, some cheap black tape can fix that though.

[CherylMcKay]

So, My pump arrived yesterday and I got all my return plumbing changed and started up the system and of course had leaks... I fixed most but I have a drip on the front of the pump.

I don't know if I have a faulty pump or if this pump is just not ment to be inline (even though I ordered one that could be both). It looks like the front plate is not sealing around the O ring properly.... Is that a sign of a faulty pump?? I will have to call the LFS to ask but because it is a week turn around to to get another pump, I just wanted some advise first to see if this can be fixed by me.

[MKLKT]

It sounds like the o-ring isn't doing its job, or that part isn't tightened quite right. If that part is threaded make sure you use teflon tape on that thread.

[Cal_stir]

So, My pump arrived yesterday and I got all my return plumbing changed and started up the system and of course had leaks... I fixed most but I have a drip on the front of the pump.

I don't know if I have a faulty pump or if this pump is just not ment to be inline (even though I ordered one that could be both). It looks like the front plate is not sealing around the O ring properly.... Is that a sign of a faulty pump?? I will have to call the LFS to ask but because it is a week turn around to to get another pump, I just wanted some advise first to see if this can be fixed by me.

is it the front plate leaking or the hose adapter that attaches to it?
I've seen it where the O-ring gets twisted during installation, untwisting it may fix the leak, when installing it onto the flange be careful not to roll it causing it to twist.

[phi delt reefer]

i assume the pump is being mounted externally (for a leaky pump wouldnt matter with an internally mounted pump). Did you put teflon tape on any fittings that screw into the pump?

are you correctly using BARB fittings and stainless steel or plastic clamps or zip ties to hold everything tight? Are they the right size? You have have to really put effort into getting the barbed fittings onto the vinyl if you have sized everything right. I didnt even need to clamp my stuff but I did just in case.

i dont know how the vinyl connects to the pump but did the pump come with any special fittings for vinyl tube? My ehiem pump came with a wierd screw to lock fitting that took some figuring out but once i got it tightened up it was leak proof.


pictures would help us troubleshoot as well :)

[CherylMcKay]

3 rounds of teflon tape around the plate and it seems to be holding. I have to figure out a way to seal the Pond tubing... I am not sure if it is pvc but It is really tight it seems to just seep so I have a little time to figure it out.

I think I need to plan this out a little better (not my strong suit) and then order all the pvc tubing, fittings and returns. This piece meal is not working and Home Hardware doesn't have it all.

Thanks for all the advise.