Pump/Plumbing Question

[mudplayerx]

Hey guys and girls,
I have bought an overflow rated 300gph maximum flow. I need to buy a pump now.
The head (distance from pump to top of tank) is about 4 feet. I believe that there will be two 90 degree elbows in the plumbing.
I have read through the forums but I want to make absolutely sure of what I need before I place the orders. From what I read, it is ok for your pump to overshoot your overflow in gph as long as you have a ball valve on the pump's output to adjust the flow? Would this make the pump more noisy?
I'm a bit confused about the plumbing as well. The hoses on the sump I bought (Marineland Tidepool) are 1-1/4" flexible tubes with pvc-like connections on the end. The skimmer I bought has a 1-1/4" bulkhead connected to the drainage. Will my hoses connect to the bulkhead? Do I need any sort of clamp or connection kit?
As far as the return from the pump... do I put the output from the sump to the tank underneathe the water level in the main tank or above it to where it pours/sprays into the tank?
What is a decent/inexpensive brand of pump? I am looking at the Pentair Aquatics "Quiet One" pumps. I can get a 780gph with 10.5' of maximum head for $66. Is the 780gph too much for my 300gph overflow or can I use a ball valve to lower it safely?
Thanks

 

[mpls man]

i would say to go with a mag 7 pump, and have a ball valve on it , there cheap and worth the money.
Head Feet 0 2 4 6 8 10 Max ht Watts
Mag Drive #7 Flow (gph) 700 550 480 400 300 120 12.5' 60
here you go.
for each 90 you have you loose 1' of head pressure
with the placement of the return pump i would place it in the sump.
what is the size of your tank?
quiet 1 pumps are good as well, i have a Quiet1 4000hh for my 75 reef for 6 yrs and never had a problem, personel preferance.

 

[mudplayerx]

Thanks for replying.
The tank is a 55 gallon. I live in an apartment while I'm in college and can't go bigger.
What about the connections? The intake for my sump has a 1-1/4" pvc fitting, the drainage from my overflow will have a 1-1/4" "bulkhead" fitting. Most of the pumps I see are showing inlets of 1/2."
How do I get all of these to fit together?

 

[zman1]

Mud go to my home page (click name) and choose the external "head loss calculator" link. Super nice web based calculator.

 

[zman1]

Or Google "ENGINEERING THE PLUMBING SYSTEM Sanjay Joshi, Nathan Paden, Shane Graber" This will take you to a Excel spreadsheet. The link on my homepage used to create their JavaScript calculator, I believe or the second google link if you want to do it all by hand.
I personally prefer the web based calculator...

 

[mudplayerx]

Thanks for the help Zman

 

[ameno]

for that small of a flow rate you could use the Rio Aqua pump, around the 1700 series. It is good for 642 GPH and 8' of head, comes with hose connections and valve for around 38$, and only uses 23 watts. I have used several of these for sump returns of less then 800 gph and they seems to work great, have one thats been running over two years now. For your hose connections you might could just use some plastic ties to hold the hose on, Just tightin it with some pliers, if it's not in the water regular hose clamps will work. Were you put the return is kinda person prefrence. I like to run mine down were it puts the cleaned water toward the bottom and pushes the unfiltered water to the top to run into the overflow. I would try and stay around the flow rate you would be overflowing, you can valve down on the discharge, but with most pump your still pulling more wattage then needed by doing that, and depending on the pump can put more strain on the pump, making it not last as long.

 

[turningtim]

Originally Posted by zman1
Mud go to my home page (click name) and choose the external "head loss calculator" link. Super nice web based calculator.
Cool page Zman, Love the tunes....

 

[mudplayerx]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate all the info.
Will the 1-1/4" bulkhead attach to a 1-1/4" pvc fitting?
As far as the return plumbing. I can probably get the ball valve and flexible tubing at a hardware store, right?

 

[ameno]

it should, I used a 1.5" pvc slip fitting to attach to my 1.5" bulkhead. Should be standard size.

 

[ameno]

to the second part of your question, yes you should be able to buy all that at a hardware store, Thats were I get all my stuff

 

[mudplayerx]

Thanks