Aquarium Sump Pump Sizing!?

HI Guys!

Been a while since I haven't visited the website, I'm still in the hobby but I am in the process of upgrading. I do a ton of research before buying my stuff but I'm getting confused more then anything right now. I bought a 55 Gallon tank & a 75 Gallon tank! I want to build a sump with the 55. One thing almost every website agrees with is a 8 to 10 turnover for the aquarium. BUT when calculating the head pressure elbows & everything... you practically need a minimum of 1 200 GPM pump realistically, minimum! That's a pretty costy pump!? (I'm in Canada, everything is expensive lol) So, with all that explained, Can someone please just tell me the exact pump you guys would recommend with the pipe size you would use! I consider myself very good with plumbing being in the commercial Heating business! I was currently looking at the EHEIM compactON 5000. but I find there specs very limited, they don't even say the head pressure for it... What would you guys recommend!? Any other info will greatly help me!

P.S. I'm currently looking at the 1800 GPH AQUARIUM OVERFLOW BOX on ebay with only 4 sides, I would drill & silicone it myself, it is a really good price at 46$ CAD, What do you guys think about that!?

 

Since I am in Asia everything European or American is typically very expensive, hence I tend to go Chinese. I didn't do any detailed calculations for my tank but went with about 9 times the total water volume (tank + sump) which in my case is about 1,500 Liters / 400 Gal.

I chose a 13,000 Liters/Hour (3,400 Gal) pump, knowing that since I need to pump it about 1.5 meters up I won't achieve full capacity (app. 11,000 L/H) however I also found the size of my overflow drain to be slightly limiting when running at full capacity - it can manage but there not much room left for any blockage issues....

However the best part is the variable flow, 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100%. Most of the time I run it at 80% but sometimes a go to 100% for a few hours if there's a lot dirt, e.g. after WC. I would highly recommend a variable speed pump if you can find one (tends to mainly be the bigger ones I think) as it can be really useful. Below is a link to the pump I use.

 

Thank you Fa4960 for the reply! I wish I had 400 gallons of tank hehe! maybe one day! That pump looks very nice, I can't even find anywhere they sell it up here in Canada.... even on the net. Even then, It's much too big for my setup unfortunately. I hope someone can enlighten me with a setup more similar to mine! thanks for the info

 

Thank you Fa4960 for the reply! I wish I had 400 gallons of tank hehe! maybe one day! That pump looks very nice, I can't even find anywhere they sell it up here in Canada.... even on the net. Even then, It's much too big for my setup unfortunately. I hope someone can enlighten me with a setup more similar to mine! thanks for the info

You are welcome but also with your setup I still highly recommend a variable pump if possible, also better not to have equipment running at 100% all the time.

Best of luck and happy to discuss other sump related questions anytime.

 

You are welcome but also with your setup I still highly recommend a variable pump if possible, also better not to have equipment running at 100% all the time.

Unfortunately my budget won't accept that lol. I work with different kinds of pump at work. I will probably end up buying a 1200 to 1800 GPM pump & I will T off somewhere & return some cycled water back at the beginning of the sump to make the life of the pump easier & to ba able to control my flow in the main tank!

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with a little DIY. Please post some pictures of your setup later as I would love to see what you end up with. You can never have too many ideas for a later project.