flow through sump? - Pump Died....

[McLoki]

I have a 180 gallon tank with a sump that is entirely to small.

The sump is drilled with a 1.5" bulkhead to the input of a dolphin ampmaster 2100 external pump. (pump has been running fine, almost non-stop, since I got it used 1.5 years ago) I am in the process of replacing the sump, but have not drilled the replacement yet (important point for the rest of the story)

We had the power go off yesterday around 5:00pm for less than 30 seconds and while I had to reset the clocks, I did not think much of it. I let the dogs out about midnight and noticed that the tank was quiet except for a loud hum. (not a good sign)

I checked the tank and the pump, as you can guess, was humming, VERY HOT but nothing turning. The shaft turns freely so it is not locked up or anything and it does not appear to be leaking at all (although there is a fair amount of salt creep around the pump that I have not identified the source of as I have never seen any water around it). So while I can manually turn the shaft of the pump, when I plug it in - it just hums, it will not start to spin on its own.

I pulled a rio 1700 off of my sons tank (yes, at midnight) and plumbed it into the system and it seems to be working fine, but the flow is MUCH reduced from the dolphin pump (as you would guess).

I got up this morning, walk out of the bedroom and am greeted with silence. (damn) As I get closer to the tank, I can faintly hear water going over the overflows - and the rio pump is near silent running. It is actually kind of nice - which brings me to my question....

Assuming my pump does not restart when I get home, how much flow do I need through my sump? (it will contain my fuge (very low flow required), heaters and skimmer. (although I am not running a skimmer right now - when I get a replacement - I plan on getting an Octopus 200) If I want to just run a submersible pump and not deal with the noise and plumbing of the external any more - how much flow do I really need? I have other powerheads in the tank for circulation so that is not really a requirement.

Could I actually run it ok with a mag-7 or 9 or a rio 2500 or so? What do you recommend? (and does anyone have an extra one they are looking to get rid of??)

Thanks,

Michael

[LegoZ]

I was running a 790gph pump on my 125 and had the feed split to feed a 50l for a frag tank as well. i had high head on it so most likely around 500gph max going to the 125.

before i broke the bolt I was running a pcx55 on the 240 and had it throttled back I believe max GPH was 1100gph.

Both systems are basement sumps so actual flow to the tank is harder to figure but it was lower than the max by quite a bit.

[jjwalsh]

I have a brand new submersible or external pump that is pretty beefy if you are interested. I was going to send it back but selling it for what I paid would be much easier. 3000 L/h at 2.4m head. I think it's like 92% efficient at that height.

[tjfulton]

I had the same problem (motor humming, pump head not spinning) on a Little Giant. Took the pump head apart, turned easily, no run, etc. Is there a place to oil the bearings on the Dolphin? There is a hole in the Little Giant for oil. Also, while the pump is plugged in, try SPINNING the impeller end. I assumed my pump was dead, but after oiling and spinning the head, it fired up. Must have just built up enough resistance through lack of lubrication that it wouldn't start on it's own. Now with proper lube, it will start up every time. Might want to give it a shot.

[jhoppy]

I would say 700-800 actual gph would be sufficient. You do not want to run too much thru your sump so the skimmer can do a good job. I would also say unless you have a light bio load I would go with the extreme 250 or sro 3000. The 200 is a little small for a 180.


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[paul]

I have 2 dolphin amp master 4700/5200's and the manual says if the pump runs dry for a milli second it will trash the seals not to say that yours did, the good thing with dolphin is they do come with 7 year extended warranty and you only pay for the replacement parts , there is no self servicing or oil to be added. The only thing you can do is take the front assembly apart and check to see if the impeller is broken from the drive shaft or if some thing jammed it. I really do like the energy efficiency of these pumps though, good luck what ever you end up doing.

[Funky187]

i would shoot for about 500-750 at the tank. something like a panworld 100px, 50pxx. i like external but almost all of them will make some sort of noise, unless you have a velocity pump which is water cooled instead of fan cooled. if you go internal i would opt for either an ocotpus 3000, mag 9.5, maxi utility 3000, or the pump that jjwalsh has. jj's pump is probably the nicest pump you can get, excelent flow, low watts and can be ran externally or internally. if you go with something that is a bit more flow than you need make sure that it has a ball valve so that you can slow it down closer the the flow you need. for the skimmer the octopus 200 would have no issue handling your tank, but if you want to achieve baller status then you can opt for the octopus extreme 3000 that jhopy is talking about. i dont think the extreme 200 is too small for a 180, i had it on 150 gallons of water and it never blinked.