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#1
12-08-2016, 03:50 PM
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8 Foot 280 Gallon -> Basement Sump Room
Hi guys,
I have been receiving some great feedback regarding my sump room from friends/LFS guys so I figured I would throw a few pics up for the community to see. I also am open to ideas of any kind, especially pertaining to my return pump setup. I have a reeflo hammerhead gold but my run of head height is around 16 feet on a 1.5" line. The GPH at this height is not ideal for me but I did not want to buy a 10 amp pump running it 24/7 my hydro bill would be outrageous. I am open to ideas, other pump models, brands, etc I am looking towards low amperage, currently my hammerhead runs just over 2 amps. I cannot find any pumps so far from searching a few weeks that will give me the GPH at this height running this low of amperage. Their manta ray/tiger shark models from Reeflo lowest amperage starts at 7.2 amps (thats what my whole entire system runs already AVG - no way I want that much current just on ONE pump!) So the tank is 280 gallons, has dual side overflows with 1.5" gate valves installed so I could fine tune the water going downstairs as my pump isnt as powerful as I had hoped at my height. To help maintain pressure coming down from above I then modified the two 1.5" drain lines from tank overflows I put into a Y setup down at sump and into one smaller line that goes into my custom filter sponge 5 gal dual bucket setup. The valves are both almost closed with this pump  which stinks. The system can run 100% silent upstairs but it only does this for a max of 1-2 days at a time then it will start gargling at the overflow. I hooked up my auto top off to my sump the other day thinking this would solve my issue with having to adjust the valves upstairs but nope, 2 days later my sump level still bang on due to ATO but its like this damn pump has a mind of its own....Thank god for my water sensors and apex to shut down my pump when the water gets to the top of the tank upstairs because 3 times now I have had the system going for 1-2 days no noise no issues, flows steady... Then all of a sudden I'll be upstairs hearing gargling and my water level has dropped in the main display, so I will have to close the one gate valve off the overflow a tiny bit to hold more water upstairs and get rid of the noise... thats all great, until you goto bed and the pump magically decides with its own mind again that now it will speed back up to where it was before the adjustment was needed = resulting in the tank upstairs getting too high of water level... I have had at least 5 salt water tank setups. None this large, none with dual overflows. I have shutoff the one overflow and tried tuning and running one but the same thing will happen after 1-2 days.... My last tank was a single overflow 215 gallon and similar to all previous tanks I could run that thing 365 days a year without a single gargle or overflow/sump noise. The water level would only ever drop in the sump at my return pump section which is where I would hookup a manual float ATO and had perfect success for years! I get this dual overflow setup and tried plumbing it to my basement and its been nothing but a pain in the butt to maintain a constant flow/system. I think 100% this is due to my pump not pumping enough water from the sump up into the tank. IMO - I should have a pump large enough like my previous setups that I would have so much water going up to the tank I need the overflow opened up 100% full and I would drill my durso hole larger and larger until I had no noises. Then if anything I would rather have my return pump tuned back or running full speed and have my overflow gate valves opened up fully. Right now with the gate valves being so closed I also fear small snails or debris that gets past my screens to overflow will eventually clog the small gap that is opened in each gate valve and cause the tank to hit overflow sensor and keep turning my return pump off. Sorry for the novel, Im not the greatest at writing my thoughts. Any advice, comments tips appreciated largely as this is my first basement sump/dual overflow/pushing water up 16 feet of vertical lift. Month old picture before changing up rock and doubling my coral stock.        Auto top off bin and float   
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#2
12-08-2016, 03:58 PM
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I have considered spending the $600 on another hammerhead and doing what their manual here says -
#6. If more flow is required than a single pump can produce, consider using two or more pumps in parallel. This will double the flow. If more pressure is required consider using two pumps in series (one feeding into the other). This will have the effect of doubling the pressure.We have found that using two pumps instead of one larger pump uses an average of 30% less electricity. Thoughts? Thanks,
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#3
12-08-2016, 07:05 PM
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How many gallon is that long tank under the dosing pump
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#4
12-08-2016, 08:53 PM
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Quote:
Specs are Tank Height = 12" Tank Width = 12" Tank Length = 48 " Glass Thickness = 1/4" Approximate Gallons = 30 Further on my pump/water flow issue *** Good example of this I just got home from work, looked at my tank checked out all my corals the water level was bang on same as I left 7 hours ago. I went down stairs checked out my sump room, pet my cat for 2 minutes and in that 2 minutes when I walked back upstairs, AFTER TOUCHING NOTHING AT ALL only observing, walk up the stairs and I could already hear the gargling. Tank is 1/8th inch low than normal and this causes the overflow box to gargle. I run downstairs and my sump is 1/4" above the normal running water line which makes sense its that water that SHOULD be upstairs! My pump im telling you has a mind of its own or something I am not seeing is going on with this design... Nothing was touched, nothing changed, but just now, like every 2-3 days this will happen.... I am still hearing the gargling as I type this message and I don't even bother to go turn my gate valve closed a bit on the overflow line because I know in an hour or so the pump will decide to go back to how strong it was all day and I will have my water level going to high upstairs due to my slight closing of that gate valve. So I leave it alone and after an hour sometimes more sometimes less the thing will equalize again.... Very annoying I wish I could figure this out without spending another $600 on a second pump. Last edited by element291; 12-08-2016 at 08:59 PM.
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#6
12-09-2016, 01:26 AM
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Don't buy a second hammerhead, bail on the reeflo set up. I've had the exact same issue as yourself. Bought a brand new gold a while back. It runs roughly 14 feet vertical through a combination of flexible and rigid 1 1/2" pvc. Literally 3 days after installing it, it started leaking, took it off line and limped along with a Laguna 2900. Not nearly enough flow, but it did the job until I could get replacement seals and bearings. Also bought a used hammerhead ( not a gold) realizing I needed to have a back up. Had a millwright replace the bearings on both pumps as well as new seals. Within weeks, of the reinstall, the gold has developed a pinhole leak somewhere around the seal. Salt creep seems to have plugged it. It too seems inconsistent with flow rates. Took it off line and the second hammerhead leaked not even a week into running. I've got on order, seals made of a different material. If that doesn't fix these pumps. I will let them rot outside on my future pond build. Could not be more disappointed with them. Look into an Abyzz A400. I've never used one, but if money isn't an issue, they sound like an awesome pump. There is a place in Canada who sells them cheaper than the states. Sorry for the long rant, just want to warn you of my frustrations with reeflo hammerhead pumps.
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