Plumbing an eheim return pump

[fritz]

Being that these pumps are so great and popular I thought I'd put a thread together explaining some of the more common questions.

The larger Eheim pumps, 1260 & 1262 use 3/4" FPT (Female Pipe Thread) for the inlet and outlet. They both come with nipples that turn those into 3/4" hose barb connections for easy connection to vinyl hose.

See Below:

 

[fritz]

The first thing to do is remove the inlet cover that ships with the pump. It is a screen and sponge designed to keep debris from entering the pump. In a reef tank this quickly becomes a nitrate factory and will also affect the GPH of your pump as it clogs.

Below are pics of the cover:

 

[fritz]

Once the cover is off you will see the 3/4" FPT inlet. I like to use a 3/4" MPT to 3/4" slip elbow here. This makes the pump draw all of it's water from the very bottom of your sump (where micro bubbles will not be!)

Below is a pic of the 3/4" FPT to 3/4" slip elbow as well as pics of it on the pump:

 

[fritz]

Now for the outlet of the pump you have two choices:

1. Hose bard for use with Vinyl tube
2. Hard plumbed with PVC (my preference as it allows the use of unions for servicing the pump and ball valves)

Assuming that you are using vinyl tube you can use either the nipple that comes with the pump or a 3/4"MPT to 3/4" Hosebarb. These are made of Nylon and are available in the plumbing section of Lowes and Home Depot in the same section as the vinyl tubing.

Pics; first the eheim nipple then the MPT to hose barb adapter:

 

[fritz]

Now if you would rather plumb your return with PVC you will need the following parts:
1. 3/4"MPT to 3/4" slip adapter, some 3/4" PVC pipe, some 3/4" elbows, 2 or 3 3/4"unions, 3/4" ball valve, 3/4" to 1 1/2" bushing, 1 1/2" FPT to to 1 1/2" slip adapter.

I'm not going to go into detail on solving pvc together as that has been discussed everywhere in depth. Here's what the finished product will look like more or less:

 

[drunktank]

very nice. I especially like the pictures

 

[ShaunW]

Excellent!

 

[Tonyscoots84]

that 90 degree elbow on the intake i dont think is that great of an idea... wouldnt it reduce flow right off the bat... but for everything else great work and great job on the pics fritz....

also fritz all them 90's i see reduces alot of flow.... how come u didnt go with spa flex??

 

[fritz]

Well it depends what you want to use the pump for. I don't believe in using return pumps for circulation as I think it's a waste. Unlike circulation pumps, return pumps have the disadvantage of being located not only outside the tank but a few feet below it. My return pump uses so much extra juice just getting the water up four feet and over the top of the tank. For example, my vortech pump (used for circulation) moves 3,000 GPH at 14 watts. My Ehiem 1262 (return pump) uses 85 watts to move just 900 GPH! I'm much better off using my vortech to produce all the flow that my reef needs and using my Eheim pump just to produce enough flow to feed my skimmer and my refugium.

That being said, the 90 degree elbows on my return don't cut back all that much head loss. According to the head loss calculator on RC I'm losing 19 GPH by having two 90 degree elbows. Since my pump pushes 900 GPH and I keep it throttled back to only 50% because I don't need any more flow, the extra 19 GPH don't matter to me. My skimmer needs only 133 GPH and my fuge gets about 100 GPH which is honestly probably too much. My fuge is only 20" by 12" and maybe 6 inches high so 100GPH passing through there is a considerable amount of flow. Pushing any more than 250GPH though my return pump (after head loss) wouldn't be doing me any good. That's what I love about circulations pumps, be they powerheads, tunzes or vortechs.

As to the 90 on the intake, quite the contrary its a great idea (thank to Badcofee on that one.) The 90 on the intake doesn't cut the flow at all (and if so it's negligible) as the pump is internal, if it was external it might be different. Also the benefit of having a downward facing intake is that I can open my pump to 100% if I want and push 800GPH through a 15 gallon sump with only one baffle and not get any microbubbles! It's fantastic and only costs about $.79!

 

[Tonyscoots84]

i didnt no about the intake 90 degree.. thanks for sharing fred... Challahhhh man....

 

[DevIouS]

Nice Fred....
Thanks.

I have mine up & running.
It's a great pump.

 

[fritz]

Yeah these pumps rock I only wish they made bigger ones.

 

[bad coffee]

Phil is needing help for his return. He wants to put a ball valve in line.

Here's one solution.

3/4" male adapter
Short piece of pipe
Union ball valve (slip)
Short piece of pipe
3/4" female adapter

This goes between the pump and the hosebarb.

B

 

[DevIouS]

That'll work...B
I'll post a pic of the valve I have.


I would like to do all PVC, but I have to find out about the main tank's bulkheads.

Thanks.

 

[bad coffee]

if it's up and running I wouldn't worry about it. The pvc is probably smoother than putting in bends and pipe.

But I'm lazy so don't necessarily take my word for it.

B

 

[oceanrealm]

Fritz, Thanks for taking the time, and pics on these pumps, its really helpful to people not famiar with these. Like myself.

 

[fritz]

Glad you enjoyed it, I wish this was around the first time I tried this! I need to update it with plumbing to the bulkheads etc.

 

[ShaunW]

Glad you enjoyed it, I wish this was around the first time I tried this! I need to update it with plumbing to the bulkheads etc.

That would be awesome.

 

[Deanos]

I need to update it with plumbing to the bulkheads etc.

:sleeping:

 

[jhale]

update?