Shopping for: external pumps.

[caferacermike]

I finally have my new tank here in ATX. It is a 380g acrylic, used to be Z28's tank. The plan is to have about 800g of total water volume between sump, fuge, tank, and skimmer (holds about 20g itself). I still have some major purchases ahead.


Today I'm shopping for: EXTERNAL PUMPS

I'm looking at getting a couple of pumps to run my sump and closed loop if I run a closed loop. I've heard great things about Sequence. I was also told great things about Ampmaster, especially nice on the wallet once a month. But I've also heard that older Ampmasters had seal issues that may or may not have been fixed.

The plan. I'm thinking about running something in the 2-3,000GPH range for the sump/fuge. I personally think that might pull water through the sump way to fast to be effective but I've read and met a few tank owners running them like this. Looking for feedback. The plan is to T off to my skimmer as well, then return the output back to the beginning of the sump/fuge. This will mean that only about 1,000GPH should fall back into the sump from the display and just recirculate the water in the sump/fuge a few times maybe making it work better. The closed loop part may or may not be a reality. I'm still trying to decide. I really like the simplicity of just buying a few controllable Tunze streams in the 3-5,000GPH range and having the ability to place them where needed instead of guessing with a closed loop and being stuck with what ever happens like blown sand. I REALLY REALLY drool over the Tunze wavebox to help break the flow up and make random currents.

1. What do you large tank guys think about my sump idea? To much flow to quickly?

2. What brands of external pumps are the majority of you satisfied with? Sequence seems to be the front runner. Also what pump make as that can change with manufacturer as well.


3. Closed loop with a 5,000GPH pump and around 2-300w or power consumption per hour or 4 Tunze controllable streams at around 15,000GPH for the same wattage?

I'm looking for reliability, ease of use, and especially power consumption. I'm afraid I won't be able to afford the electricity once thise thing is running.

I'm planning on a full reef set up so flow is important.

[Ram_Puppy]

sequence reeflo dart... good pump.

[cpreefguy]

cafeshoppermike

[5.0Stang]

cafeshoppermike
:lol :lol :lol
Sounds like you will have more control with the tunze

[LoneStar]

I'd vote Sequence hands down. The Dart is a great high flow low pressure pump. Plus it doesn't draw that much power ;)

[caferacermike]

I see you all voting for the Dart. It has been rated highly but will it put out the type of flow I'm asking? I was looking at the barracudas and hammerheads as well.

And since I was thinking of one pump for the sump and one for the closed loop, what exactly are you rating the darts for? CL or sump? Or are you just giving them your thumbs up? And would that be way to much flow through my sump?

[thedude]

I'd be looking at 1600-2000 gph flow through the sump. This unfortunately puts you at an awkward size to use a Sequence but you could T your return to feed a refugium, skimmer, etc. I love Sequence pumps as they really stand behind their pump (warrantly) and the power consumption is hard to beat.

In tank flow is really a personal choice. One thing many people often forget in that a closed loops costs ALOT to plumb. Hayward bulkheads run $30 a piece, and oceansmotions 4 way $300, and a Sch.80 true union/ball valve $30.

[brewercm]

I'm running the Dart and doing the same thing for my skimmer/return. A good part of it goes to the skimmer and then the rest feeds the return to my 140 which is at about a 6 foot head pressure with one 90degree turn, the rest is spaflex to a manifold that has six outputs sitting about the rim of the tank with adjustable lockline nozzles pointing down. It appears to be plenty powerful to handle the job. Oh and the skimmer is a dual becket that is probably around 36" tall. My sump and the returns are setup like the picture below.

[brewercm]

BTW, just for info purposes. I had picked up an Ampmaster 3000 which has the same output as the Dart as a backup at the meeting. When I was setting up I was curious which would be better to use since I hadn't set it up yet and the Ampmaster's motor is much larger than the Dart. I did some searching around (don't remember where I found it) but the Dart outperformed the Ampmaster when you get to about 4' head pressure on up even though the motor is much smaller.

Just info for you if you look at different pumps.

[LoneStar]

I've T'd a Dart in the past and it has worked out great. Plus if you put a valve on the output side of the pump, you can reduce the amount of water flow plus reduce the amount of current you will be using. Or so I was once......

[captexas]

Plus Ampmaster pumps are known to have more problems with them than Sequence, usually seals going bad unless you pay the extra $$$ for an "abrasion resistant" seal.

[caferacermike]

Here is a sketch of my plans. After seeing Brewer's sketch I was inspired (and rained out of my camping vacation) so I drew up the plan I had in my head for the fuge/sump/skimmer/Dart idea I was kicking around. It is only a representation of the actual set up as there are actually 2 overflows and other such nonsense. The plan is to have the tank water fall from the tank at a rate of about 1,200GPH into the filter sock, over the bubble trap under the mix gate and over the second bubble trap into the pump chamber. From the pump it's back up to the tank and into the skimmer as well, it is a recirculating type Euroreef so it needs an external pump supply. The 2 valves are to control the water flow into the skimmer and tank. It is not meant to restrict the pump at all, only direct the flow to where I want it. The goal is for about 1,200gph to head back to the tank and around 1,000GPH to visit the skimmer. From the skimmer I was thinking of either placing the return back to the beginning of the fuge so it can circulate twice or maybe place it in the pump chamber thereby decreasing the flow through the fuge to 1,200GPH but allowing the pump to work at full capacity.

Any ideas? Worthless plan?

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g48/caferacermike/sump-1.jpg

[captexas]

Nice drawing. I don't see why it wouldn't work. On the 240g tank I was setting up awhile back, I decided to use 2 separate pumps instead of one like you show. I just had two bulkheads on the sump at the return area to feed the main return pump and the skimmer feed pump. I decided to do that so I could keep the return flow to the tank stable if I decided to boost/reduce the feed supply to the skimmer. On the skimmer feed pump, I put a tee and valves with one line feeding the skimmer and the other line draining back into the sump. That way if I wanted to reduce the pressure going to the skimmer I could just drain the excess flow back to the sump without having to put back pressure on the pump. Hope that makes sense! lol

Make sure you put valves with unions on the input and at the output of the return pump. This will make it much easier to remove the pump for cleaning and to replace it if needed. Many of the tanks I have seen and even setup myself were missing that and it becomes a pain in the arse to work on the pump if needed.

[KyleV]

Nice