Pump ideas for my 220

[Alamo]

Well for my new 220 I want to go insump, and my returns are rated at 1400 gph, 700 for each one, so I am leaning towards a mag 18... anyone have any other ideas?

[carlinsa]

remember you will loose cause of head pressure and bends. i would say go with a 24 minimum

[alton]

Although I like Mag pumps, I had a 12 on my 75 and after 6 months it only produced 600 gph. I agree with carlinsa mag 24. Although if I had a chance to change your mind, move your pump out of the sump. I love my Pan World 100PXX on my 200. CB pets has great pricing on them.

[Ping]

This is from another site. Alamo, give me a call tonight.

When planning your plumbing system draw it out first, and see what kind of connectors you will be using so that you can buy an appropriate pump. It may only be 3 feet from your sump to the top of your aquarium but the 90 degree bends, true union connectors, and valve could make it be much higher.

Some thumb rules:

- 1 90 degree bend in a system will add about 1 foot of pump head
- 1 3 way connector will add about 3.5-4 feet of pump head
- Ball Valves (the most common PVC valve and best throttling valve) will vary the amount it adds.

When you can use 2 45 degree connector instead of 1 90 degree connector, do it. It will save you from having to get a bigger pump or keep overall system flow higher.

Always install a ball valve inline with your return pump; this will help control water levels in your entire system, sump and aquarium.

[Bill S]

I have a Quiet One 6000 for my return. I had a big 9000, but it was WAY too noisy. If I were doing it over, I'd buy a Pan World from Richard. What kind of overflow do you have?

[TexasTodd]

In-sump pumps add a lot of heat as you go to bigger pumps.

Todd

[Alamo]

I wanted to go insump to keep it quiet as possible, all my tanks... 1 40, 2 125s have been insump and i havent had any heat probs, but am keeping an open mind for one outside the sump.. I also liked the idea of keeping it insump, so that if I have to work on the pump or it fails, when I remove it, any water in the pipe below the manifold would just drain into the sump rather than into the stand floor.

I have a Perfecto 220 with 2 corner-flo overflows rated for 700 gph.

[Alamo]

Okay I just got back from Alamo Aquatics, I went with a Sequence Dart rated for 3600 at 4 feet, 2400 at 6 feet. Its asbout 6 feet for my tank from bottom to top, so that still gives me a 1000 gph to play with with 90 degrees and so forth.

[Alamo]

Anyone else use this..... any probs?

[matt]

It seems a little strange that you were talking about a mag 18 and went with a sequence; the sequence is WAY more of a pump. As long as your overflows can handle it, I'm sure you'll be much happier than you would have been with the mag. I'm sure you know you have to use bigger plumbing than normal, either 1.5" or 2" depending on the output size of the pump. I didn't know Alamo sold sequence pumps, doesn't seem like their sort of thing.

[Alamo]

It seems a little strange that you were talking about a mag 18 and went with a sequence; the sequence is WAY more of a pump. As long as your overflows can handle it, I'm sure you'll be much happier than you would have been with the mag. I'm sure you know you have to use bigger plumbing than normal, either 1.5" or 2" depending on the output size of the pump. I didn't know Alamo sold sequence pumps, doesn't seem like their sort of thing.

What can I say, you changed my mind...lol thats why I asked for opinions, nobody said YUP Mag 18 is the way to go :P :wacko

Yeah its looking like the returns are 1 1/2... the pump inlet is 2, I may reduce that to 1 1/2 as well depending on advice :)

[JeremyGlen]

Do not reduce the pump inlet. This can cause problems. The pump is rated for water flow created by the opening sizes the pump is made with. Reducing the inlet size will reduce the amount of water coming in and make your pump work harder to pull the water to it.

Example: the Quiet One 3000 and 4000 are the exact same pump except for the size of the inlet. You can change the removable inlet and chenge the pump. By changing to the bigger inlet, you get 1080gph vs. 700 or so with the smaller inlet. The difference between the two inlets is between 1/4 to 3/8" and changes the flow by a little over 300gph.

As for your return, your going to want to go with 2" piping to reduce any restriction on the output. You definitely never want to go smaller on the output since you'll just end up blowing you pump real fast and losing tons of head-pressure.

There is a calculator for head-loss on the site. I would go and see just how much head-loss your looking at with the design of your return system. I did just a basic calculation and you actually increase your output by 100gph or more going with 2" piping from the pump.

[matt]

If your overflows are only rated at 700gph each and you have a pump putting out 2500gph plus, I'm sure you understand there's a potential problem. Hopefully, your overflows can handle more than 700gph each. Maybe you should measure the total linear length of the overflow surface; I assume it's got "teeth" that are 1" deep, 1/4" wide, and 1/4" apart. For example, mine's a corner overflow 8.5" on a side for 17" total length. There's a calculator somewhere, maybe reefcentral, that gives you an idea of how much flow a given size overflow can handle. Mine can easily handle 1000 gph, probably more, but that's what I put through it.

If you have 2 holes in each overflow, one for drain and one for return, I bet the returns are 3/4" which is WAY too small for this pump. If that's the case, you should re-plumb it so both holes are used as drains, you want as much drain volume as you can have. I have a 1.5" drain hole in my small corner tank, with a 1000gh return pump, and in my opinion it's borderline.

If the pump input is 2", you must use 2" plumbing for the input, preferably coming straight from your sump with no elbows, and try to keep the feed line as short as possible. You have to be careful not to restrict the flow to the pump in any way. You should also use 2" line for the output, which you could split into two 1.5" lines, then maybe each of those into two 1" lines and use four return nozzles hanging over the tank wall. It would be really good if you could convince someone who has this pump to either give you a hand figuring out your plumbing circuit or at least go look at a few tanks with the same or similar pump to get an idea of how it should go.

Good luck!

[Alamo]

Yeah Brian, I think we can stay with the 1 1/2 on the outlet and it will be fine " I hope" with a ball valve and the manifold .. I hope mine will run as quiet as yours !

Matt the return holes in the overflows are 1 5/8, quite a bit bigger than 3/4, but you scared me enough to run in there with a tape measure, so it should be 1400 gph returning on just the 2 holes so I will be able to use just the 2 standard holes, and not all 4... this is the perfecto 220 reef ready, you should go and check out the new rose line that perfecto has put out at Alamo, several diff styles that look awesome.

[matt]

If the holes are 1 5/8" that's for a 3/4" bulkhead, sorry 'bout that, mate! If you measure again and get 1 3/4" those are for standard 1" bulkheads. Either way, if it were me and I was planning on a return pump that big, I'd be thinking very seriously about using all 4 holes for drain. You're going to get junk in the overflow holes, that's a given, and you don't want a flood.

The reason I bring this up is because on all the "reef ready" tanks I've seen the stock holes in the overflow are for a 1" bulkhead drain and a 3/4" return. Yours might be different, of course, but that's what I have seen. When you measured, what did you come up with for total length of the overflow "teeth" surface?

I plugged in 2000gph into the calculator on RC. It said minimum linear overflow length 30", so if you have roughly 8" sides on your corner overflows you'll be okay. It also said minimum recommended drain diameter 1.85", which is pretty big. Remember that two 1" bulkheads do not have the capacity of a single 2" bulkhead, not even close. I used 2000 gph because if your pump is rated at 2600 with some head pressure, I would think you'll be getting 2000 gph easy unless you really restrict it with a ball valve/gate valve. Most of the high flow, low power pumps are designed to handle being restricted on the output, so it shouldn't hurt the pump.

[Alamo]

Matt the interior of the bulkhead on the overflows is 1 1/4 inches, and im planning on t-ing off the return with a valve to the fuge, plus the 90s and braking any over pressure with a valve after the manifold, but I also might be totally crazy, this is my first reef ready tank, so im winging it, if you have the time to come take a look at the tank, and the plumbing scheme, i'd be tickled :) gimmie a call and let me know 473-5358.

[Bill S]

You really only want to do this ONCE. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have had Ross drill another hole in my 215. I have 2, and they are 1-1/2 ID. They are fed by my overflow. At first, I had occasional clogs with large snails. Then I took a piece of eggcrate, and put it into the overflow. Now the snails can crawl back! Anyway, with one clogged, it struggled to keep up with my 1700 gph return... And when drains struggle they are NOISY.

[Alamo]

someone on RC said they used a plastic mesh they got from a hobby store, I was thinking of trying that..