i need help with my pump from wet/dry filter
 

I am setting up a 150 gallon tank for Discus. I have my sump filter all set up and the pump i am using is a sunterra 1250,that i found on craigslist for a good price,which has a gph of 1250. I have a ball valve to regulate the return flow to the tank, now my question is, with the ball valve regulating the return to the tank, will this reduce the life of the pump ? any help on how to set this up would be great, or would this not hurt the pump ? i am using 1" pvc for the return line.

It really depends on how much you are restricting the flow.

You have an extremely powerful pump there which is more suited for ponds than aquariums. I am going to say that it might be too much unless you have an extremely fast overflow.

It would be my $.02 that you might hook up a simple bypass so any excess is diverted back to the sump and re-filtered. This ensures that there is little back pressure on the pump. Crude drawing follows:

My concern is this pump has a 19ft head height and even with a return flow to the sump, I think the flow will simply be too much to make it viable for use in the sump.

The pump is capable of creating a fountain from 7ft deep down in a pond! Not to mention it would need an extremely fast overflow to keep up with it's demands.

Not to mention Discus like extremely calm water....

Any reason you want such a powerful pump? A simple canister filter with 350 gph is more than sufficient for a 150g tank.

wet/dry pump
 

thanks for the ideas i will try the bypass valve. i'm using this pump because i got a good deal on it from craigslist and i built my own wet/dry filter so it is more of a project that i wanted to do. i figured i can always downsize the pump I'm having so much fun with this it's just epic

what gph are you getting from your overflow?

Wet dry filters need relatively low flow rate to be effective.

overflow
 

i am using a weir overflow rated at 1000 gph which is why i want to turn down the return to the tank

I have to say for discus I really think this system is going to way too much for them, regardless of what you do.

They do not need nor like strong flow rates and you need a return pump running at least 1000gph even before you take head height into account...I think with the pump you have it will produce too much flow even turned down enough to match your overflow.

Obviously it cannot run slower than the overflow otherwise you get a flooded sump and floor, likewise the pump cannot run faster than your overflow, otherwise you can potentially flood the tank and run the pump dry...with the powerful pump you have I think it will just be too much for discus to be happy with.

What size sump do you have?

pump
 

thanks for all the ideas i think i will go with a smaller pump and go from there,, my sump is a 40 gallon