why syphon?????????????

bender

New Member
my question is if i need 150gph flow y cant i use pump or power head to to supply sump with water instead of overflow syphon ty
 

spanko

Active Member
I believe the reason is the difficulty in trying to match the supply pump gph to the return pump gph to maintain water levels.
 

bender

New Member
tyvm i was hoping
ive got 3/4" syphon and cant get enough flow my return pump drains sump ty for hlp
 

spanko

Active Member
Can you throttle the return pump down some. I think people with sumps usually put a valve on the return side for this particular purpose. Someone with more knowledge with chime in here I'm sure.
 

posiden

Active Member
Originally Posted by BENDER
http:///forum/post/2957855
tyvm i was hoping
ive got 3/4" syphon and cant get enough flow my return pump drains sump ty for hlp

How big is your pump?
If you have a full siphon on 3/4", it should handel like 1000 GPH.
 

naclh2o nut

Member
What kind of siphon set up do you have? The smallest overflow box that I have seen is rated for 600 gph.
Not sure about a 3/4" pipe pulling 1000gph but it should be fine for 150 gph.
If you need more flow from DT and there is nothing wrong with your set up, just add a second overflow.
The pump from tank to overflow is not a good idea - if DT pump would quit then the sump would empty into and probably over the DT.
 

turningtim

Active Member
You will NEVER get the pumps to match. Is this an overflow box (U-tube,CPR) or just a pipe siphoning out of the tank?
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
I use 2-U syphons and a powerhead to provide overflow into one of my sumps. My first return pump was too strong, so I went one lower and it has been fine for over a year now. Not that difficult to match up the flow IMO. I use the original pump to mix my salt now
.
Forgot...I also used a fluval 404 to do the same thing, until the motor blew on it.
 

posiden

Active Member
Originally Posted by NaClH2O Nut
http:///forum/post/2961471
What kind of siphon set up do you have? The smallest overflow box that I have seen is rated for 600 gph.
Not sure about a 3/4" pipe pulling 1000gph but it should be fine for 150 gph
.
If you need more flow from DT and there is nothing wrong with your set up, just add a second overflow.
The pump from tank to overflow is not a good idea - if DT pump would quit then the sump would empty into and probably over the DT.


A siphon is just that, a siphon. A piece of 3/4" pipe in a full siphon......
Not a continuous siphon overflow. The OP didn't specify which.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by BENDER
http:///forum/post/2957848
my question is if i need 150gph flow y cant i use pump or power head to to supply sump with water instead of overflow syphon ty
because
pump A (the powerhead pumping down to your sump) would have gravity assisting it in pumping downwards increasing flow.
pump B (the pump, pumping your return from sump water) {and so they shall be listested heretofore return to this and the previous sentence if you get lost} would be fighting gravity to push water back up hill (called head pressure by most)
if pump A and pump B were the same pump identicle in manufacture the chances are one pump may pump slower or faster due to the cast molding style used to cast the bodys of the pumps and deburring may be slightly different, causing water to flow at a plus or minus rate from every other pump by a small fraction.
once you add gravity to to pump "A" it will help pull the water down to the sump the flow rate increases due to the ease of moving the water.
while pump "B" has to contend with gravity decreasing the rate.
so you must in turn throttle back or restrict pump "A" to match the gravity restriction of pump "B"
as well as compensate for the manufacturing differences between pump "A" and "B" however they may be.
a flow difference of 1/100th of a gallon an hour will cause either pump "A" or "B" to lose or gain ground respectivly to the other pump. at the rate of one gallon per hundred hours. (if you can get two pumps this close by trying this set up you are an engineering god) in any case. every hundred hours pump "A" or "B" will have pumped one gallon more or less than the other pump adn soon enough the receptical that the lagging pump is in will over flow or be overly drained.
once you have this static set up the longer it is in operation the more the differences add up. (say you can actually tune them to match up long enough) deposits algaes etcetera form restricting one pump or the other inhibiting performance marginally. increasing the performance differences of the pumps thus increasing the rate of digression from the "tune"
if this description sounds complicated its nothing compared to actually trying to make it work, it is an impossible system to maintain due to the nature of it.
it will take you less time in trying to get this to work, to realize it cant, than it took me to type this explination, but it was fun to type out
 

nuro

Member
simple answer: is there enough water in your system?
i had the same issue when i built my system.. i just didnt have enough total water
 

naclh2o nut

Member
12
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2963831
because
pump A (the powerhead pumping down to your sump) would have gravity assisting it in pumping downwards increasing flow.
pump B (the pump, pumping your return from sump water) {and so they shall be listested heretofore return to this and the previous sentence if you get lost} would be fighting gravity to push water back up hill (called head pressure by most)
if pump A and pump B were the same pump identicle in manufacture the chances are one pump may pump slower or faster due to the cast molding style used to cast the bodys of the pumps and deburring may be slightly different, causing water to flow at a plus or minus rate from every other pump by a small fraction.
once you add gravity to to pump "A" it will help pull the water down to the sump the flow rate increases due to the ease of moving the water.
while pump "B" has to contend with gravity decreasing the rate.
so you must in turn throttle back or restrict pump "A" to match the gravity restriction of pump "B"
as well as compensate for the manufacturing differences between pump "A" and "B" however they may be.
a flow difference of 1/100th of a gallon an hour will cause either pump "A" or "B" to lose or gain ground respectivly to the other pump. at the rate of one gallon per hundred hours. (if you can get two pumps this close by trying this set up you are an engineering god) in any case. every hundred hours pump "A" or "B" will have pumped one gallon more or less than the other pump adn soon enough the receptical that the lagging pump is in will over flow or be overly drained.
once you have this static set up the longer it is in operation the more the differences add up. (say you can actually tune them to match up long enough) deposits algaes etcetera form restricting one pump or the other inhibiting performance marginally. increasing the performance differences of the pumps thus increasing the rate of digression from the "tune"
if this description sounds complicated its nothing compared to actually trying to make it work, it is an impossible system to maintain due to the nature of it.
it will take you less time in trying to get this to work, to realize it cant, than it took me to type this explination, but it was fun to type out

Wow
, that is it. Now let me see if I try for the next couple of weeks to get two pumps off by lets say 1/10. Then could I just do my top offs into the one that is behind.
. Of course at water change time, I will take from the slower pump and add to the faster one. If I do a 2 gallon water change every other day then they should be ok. That sounds easy and isn't water changes recommended.

Just kinding, I can't see how this would work either. Siphon or overflow is the only way to go. I would hate to think that I need two pumps to work just to keep water off my floor. I would not leave the house. I check my vent hole in my return line once a month for algea growth!
 

pbnj

Member
I had a 10g refugium setup right next to my 29g sump.
I tried using two identical powerheads (at the same water-level) with tubing to move water between the two. It was close, but I never could get them to match flows 100%. I gave up on the idea.
 
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