saltyseaman
05/08/2008, 08:55 PM
Meaning, can they push a similar amount of flow at the same amount of pressure (same height) as their non-needlewheel counterparts?
I am looking for a needlewheel pump that can push 600 GPH at 40", but I can't find flow/pressure curves on needle wheel pumps. I am concerned that this is because they can't push against much head pressure due to the needle wheel. However, the Gen-X 4100 needle wheel pushes 750 GPH at 3', according to customaquatic. But I think what he may have done there is just take specs of the regular gen-x 4100 and put them in the needle wheel specs.
http://www.customaquatic.com/customaquatic/itemdetail.asp?offset=0&itemid=PS-PCGX-4100-NW
For those of you interested in why I am looking for a needle wheel that can push 600 GPH at 40" of head, here's what I am doing.
I have a 50" tall skimmer that has 2 Aquabee 2000/1 mesh modded recirculating pumps injected with air by a SL-65. It is fed right now by the overflow drain pipe on my aquarium. The problem I am having is that the water height in the skimmer is 40"-45" tall, so once the water gets to just the right height to produce the right skimmate, the overflow can't handle even 600 gph because of the back pressure. The tank gets close to overflowing and no detritus or surface "slick" goes down the overflow.
So what I'm wanting to do is hook the drain pipe into a T submerged in the sump. One end of the T will stay open, one will have the drain feed into it, and the other will feed the intake of the pump to feed my skimmer. This way if the flow from the drain is too much the open end of the T can let it pass through, and if the pump sucks more flow than the drain is putting out then it can draw water from the sump through the open part of the T. I would like the pump to be a needle wheel in order to chop up the bubbles that will come out of the drain.
I don't really HAVE to do it this way, and I may be able to just use a regular pump. But I am concerned that a regular pump will allow bubbles through that are large enough to knock down my foam head. I don't want to hook up a T and a valve (allowing some water to drain into the sump and some into the skimmer, no pump involved) because I feel that more of the drain water than I would like will go into the sump rather than the skimmer, and I want to get that water skimmed as soon as it comes out of the tank.
I am looking for a needlewheel pump that can push 600 GPH at 40", but I can't find flow/pressure curves on needle wheel pumps. I am concerned that this is because they can't push against much head pressure due to the needle wheel. However, the Gen-X 4100 needle wheel pushes 750 GPH at 3', according to customaquatic. But I think what he may have done there is just take specs of the regular gen-x 4100 and put them in the needle wheel specs.
http://www.customaquatic.com/customaquatic/itemdetail.asp?offset=0&itemid=PS-PCGX-4100-NW
For those of you interested in why I am looking for a needle wheel that can push 600 GPH at 40" of head, here's what I am doing.
I have a 50" tall skimmer that has 2 Aquabee 2000/1 mesh modded recirculating pumps injected with air by a SL-65. It is fed right now by the overflow drain pipe on my aquarium. The problem I am having is that the water height in the skimmer is 40"-45" tall, so once the water gets to just the right height to produce the right skimmate, the overflow can't handle even 600 gph because of the back pressure. The tank gets close to overflowing and no detritus or surface "slick" goes down the overflow.
So what I'm wanting to do is hook the drain pipe into a T submerged in the sump. One end of the T will stay open, one will have the drain feed into it, and the other will feed the intake of the pump to feed my skimmer. This way if the flow from the drain is too much the open end of the T can let it pass through, and if the pump sucks more flow than the drain is putting out then it can draw water from the sump through the open part of the T. I would like the pump to be a needle wheel in order to chop up the bubbles that will come out of the drain.
I don't really HAVE to do it this way, and I may be able to just use a regular pump. But I am concerned that a regular pump will allow bubbles through that are large enough to knock down my foam head. I don't want to hook up a T and a valve (allowing some water to drain into the sump and some into the skimmer, no pump involved) because I feel that more of the drain water than I would like will go into the sump rather than the skimmer, and I want to get that water skimmed as soon as it comes out of the tank.