Pump problem

[jc]

I was doing maintenance on my tank and I got to thinking about my pump. I use a coralife 1270 external pump to feed the water back to my 180 tank through 2 returns on either side of the tank. I have the return on a ball valve that is turned about half way to restrict the water flow. The reason I do this is because if I run it full power the water level in my sump drops really low and the noise increases. I was thinking why not change the pump to something like a Iwaki WMD20RLXT that would have a return rate of 382 GPH according to the calculator. That return rate would create an overturn rate of twice per hour. I figure that the smaller pump would equal less energy use, lower sound, and less heat. The only downside I could see is that the flow in the tank would be cut by half. I never really got much flow from the returns anyway and I use a modded maxijet now for flow with much better results. If I did this I would like to add a second maxi or koralia. What do you guys think?

[txstateunivreefer]

if you want low pwr low noise and all that i would go sequence i have an iwaki its loud my livingroom sounds like a fish store sequence snapper is what you should get they are so quiet you will for get they are on thats what i would use for a return how many overflows are feeding your pump its hard to picture such a small pump for a 80 gal tank i have a 110 and my return is around 1000gph

[jc]

I have 2 overflow draining into my sump. Both are 1". I figure that the only thing I need my overflows for is to get water to my protein skimmer. Since my maxi provides better flow why use a big pump for the return? If I could put my skimmer and Calcium reactor on a closed loop I wouldn't need a sump.

[txstateunivreefer]

well you could treat your overflows as a closed loop and thats why i would put the higher pwr pump on there if your drilled for a closed loop by all means run that too to get maximum flow then you can take your pwr heads out (thats if your like me and think they are unsightly )

[junkstang]

IF YOU WANT A QUITE PUMP THAT PRODUCES LOWER HEAT AND HAS A LOWER WATTAGE OF USE GO WITH A PAN WOLRD 40PX.

[jc]

It worked!!! I switched to a pan world 40px and the sound from the pump disappeared. The loudest sound now is the modded maxijet. The pump even sits off the ground because it is a little shorter than the corallife pump. Now I just have to check it periodically for leaks and i'm good to go. Is the koralia quieter than the modded maxi? I know it is a lower wattage 8.5 vs the maxi 1200 at 20w.