Question on how to plumb pump to cannister type filter

[Luky]

This is not about a reef tank, but for my daughters turtle tank (10" red eared slider). We've been using an old magnum 350 on this 70gal tank for a year+ but it gets crudded up in 4-6 weeks and is difficult for her to maintain. So I purchased a small "pond" cannister filter i found a deal on at HD, rated for 1600 gal pond (with internal 13w UV) and I have a spare Current eflux 1900 gpg DC return pump I was going to use to run it, since I can easily dial it down to control the flow rate.

So my question is should I plumb the pump to take water from the tank and push it through the cannister filter, or have it pull from the filter, and push/return it to the tank?

I am using 3/4" pvc for the tank intake (with 1" x 6" plastic strainer tube) and return spray bar. I will have 1" ID tubing between pump/filter/pvc bits. My concern is whether the larger bits of Lettuce and feces that make it through the strainer will gum up the expensive pump if I use it to push the water through the filter? The filter has a back flush mechanism which should help ease maintenance/water changes.

 

[tbrown]

Return pumps are usually rated for pushing, not pulling. However, they're also typically installed downstream of the filter, so... Yes?

 

[tbrown]

Since that was a super helpful answer...

Return pumps are usually rated for feet of lifting head and not for feet of suction. Pulling from the filter would work best if you plumbed it directly after the filter and "lifted" the water back to the tank.

 

[Luky]

Since that was a super helpful answer...

Return pumps are usually rated for feet of lifting head and not for feet of suction. Pulling from the filter would work best if you plumbed it directly after the filter and "lifted" the water back to the tank.

Yeah, the filter will be under the tank so a gravity siphon will help to keep the water flowing down into the filter, and the return pump can push it back up into the tank. In retrospect this is opposite of how this type of filter is normally used as it would be typically be placed higher than the water level and the pump would push the water up into the filter with gravity helping return it to the pond.

Thanks for your feedback. This should work and the filter has four layers of various size open cell sponge inside to capture the detritus before it gets to the pump.

 

[tbrown]

Yeah, the filter will be under the tank so a gravity siphon will help to keep the water flowing down into the filter, and the return pump can push it back up into the tank. In retrospect this is opposite of how this type of filter is normally used as it would be typically be placed higher than the water level and the pump would push the water up into the filter with gravity helping return it to the pond.

Thanks for your feedback. This should work and the filter has four layers of various size open cell sponge inside to capture the detritus before it gets to the pump.

Most return pumps can handle some detritus and such - they're often a sump pump meant for pumping some type of sludge.