pump preferences for 150g

[ronj]

what would be a good ext. pump for a 120-150g tank...my lfs is giving me their price plus $20 for any tank i want to order. they showed me their price list.. i think i am going to get everything i need first and then the tank

 

[Krish]

I have a quiet one pump and I love it. Very quiet and powerful (the model I have is the 6000 at 1502 gph and I paid under $100 retail for it). As for a pump I've never tried, but I've always wanted is a Sequence pump! I've always heard nothing but great things about them

 

[ronj]

i new i could count on you to reply

 

[Krish]

i new i could count on you to reply

ROFL! If I'm online, then you know it!

 

[plack]

What pump to recommend depends on how much flow you want and your budget. Is this for a sump return or for a closed loop? Does it need to be really quiet are you using tunze's are you trying for high flow acro's or something else like softies.
Paul

 

[ronj]

i will probably keep just softies...i want a good folw, but not so much as to cause my corals to be blown over....it is for a sump return

 

[bc_slc]

also, is it going to be able to be plumbed externally? If that is the case then blueline, iwaki, little giant and sequence are good choices with reasonable efficience, good reliability and decent price.

If you have to run it submerged then your options are fewer. The Mag Drive series are reasonable. That is what I have, a Mag 12.

 

[ronj]

i guess it can run internal or external... i have never used a sump before, so i am going to be needing advice on how to set that up also...

 

[KRMNAL1]

I had a CA 4000 powerhead style internal pump and it was really noisy, even with the little suction cup noise reducers it was loud, tolerable but loud. I now have an external Iwaki 40 rxlt and even though it has double the flow of the CA, it makes less than half the noise the submerged pump did. The guy I bought my pump from also had 2 little Little Giant external pumps for sale and he said they were a low noise pump also.

 

[ronj]

ok, i just did some reading on sumps...mine will be a 30g glass aquarium...it is not going to be drilled, so i am going to be using an internal pump...i would like to have a small refugium in the center and a space for a protein skimmer....i guess i will have to get the skimmer first before i put in dividers, so that i can measure the space i will need...also, what flow rate would i need the pump to be for a 150g w/ dual overflows and head flow of about 4-5ft...i really don't understand...if the pump can pump more gph than the overflows can put in it, is this a problem?

 

[james734]

The thing you need to calc. is head loss. A pump rated at 800gph is usually with no head. Other words, if the pump was sitting in water with no plumbing attached to the output it would pump 800gph. Once you start adding the plumbing (90's, Valves, etc) the pump will lose some of it's pumping power.

IE: 800 gph rated pump fully plumbed back up to the tank for the return might only have 600 gph at the tank.

Here's a good calc. for figuring out head loss with some of the common pumps out there.
http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

 

[ronj]

i am going to use my mag 12 for one of the returns and i will need another pump for the other side..will the mag12 run the protein skimmer and the return through my sump, or should i buy a bigger pump for that and use the mag12 on the closed loop on the other return????

 

[Krish]

ok, i just did some reading on sumps...mine will be a 30g glass aquarium...it is not going to be drilled, so i am going to be using an internal pump...i would like to have a small refugium in the center and a space for a protein skimmer....i guess i will have to get the skimmer first before i put in dividers, so that i can measure the space i will need...also, what flow rate would i need the pump to be for a 150g w/ dual overflows and head flow of about 4-5ft...i really don't understand...if the pump can pump more gph than the overflows can put in it, is this a problem?

If you have a 150 AGA with the dual overflows, then a mag12 would be fine as the overflows are rated for 600 gph per overflow (if I remember correctly) and when you factor in head loss etc, it will be just fine. If you are flowing more gph from your sump than your overflows can handle, then what would happen is you'd drain your sump dry and burn up your pump because the water won't be able to be returned to the sump quick enough to keep up with the pump. You can always put a ball valve on the pump just incase it is too strong though, so you can slow down the flow a bit. As for me personally, I've never tried or ran more than 800gph through any of my sumps. Just a personal preference. I figured if the flow through my sump was too fast, then my skimmer would miss a lot of the junk so I like to keep it in the 800gph area.

i am going to use my mag 12 for one of the returns and i will need another pump for the other side..will the mag12 run the protein skimmer and the return through my sump, or should i buy a bigger pump for that and use the mag12 on the closed loop on the other return????

With a skimmer, you should use the specific/recommended pump for it to operate/function properly. Like my AquaC EV-120 uses a mag5 which is recommended for it. If I go to a mag7 I will probably have issues so IMO, it is always better to use a seperate pump for your return and skimmer and then you won't have to worry about branching it off with a "Y" and trying to fine tune each output .

 

[curro18]

Good call Krish. I am using a Mag 7 for my EV-180 and a Mag 12 for my return. I am eventually going to upgrade to a Mag 18 to get more flow going through the sea swirls.

 

[ronj]

lots of skimmers come with pumps...is it necessary to have another pump....i have never had an "in sump skimmer "..if it comes w/ one, that is all it needs, right???