Power head for return pump from sump?

[brianf01]

Im thinking of making a small sump for my 44 gal tank. Is it possible to use a power head to return water to the main tank? It would be about 2 feet of tube going back in. What size pump would I need? I was thinking of a 300 or 350 gph power head or pump. Will a power head have enough power to return the water? I was also thinking of using my Magnum 350 as the return pump.

 

[almarktool]

mag 350 would be much better choice if u are going to attempt a power head you have to find out what the gph at 2-3 feet of head are that is what will count

 

[brianf01]

The 350 Mag seems like a good choice to me as well the more I think about it.
How useful is a sump really? Im wondering if its really going to improve the situation. Since the room for fish (44gal) wont increase, how beneficial is a sump for bio load? If I got a 20 gal sump, would it have a big difference on the water quality? I already have a hang on the tank skimmer so I wont be using it for that either, I guess just mainly for water volume.

 

[new]

my opinion is that the more water volumn the less stressful any small changes in water quality will be on the inhabitants and it makes water changes and other maintenance easier as long as access to the sump is easy.