Dual return pumps?

[captexas]

I posted this on RC and wanted to see if anyone here had thought of this or has actually tried it. With wave makers and power heads, there is a night time setting that reduces the wave action. For those that don't use powerheads and only have a single return pump from the sump, the water circulation is constant all the time. My thought was that instead of using one large return pump to use 2 smaller pumps with multiple return lines.

On my 75g that I am working on, I will have 2 3/4in. sea swirls for returns and 4 additional loc-line returns where I have drilled the back of the tank. My thoughts were to put one return pump on the sea swirls 24hrs a day and have another pump for the loc-line nozzle returns that is connected to a timer. The timer can be set to turn the pump off at night so the water is more calm and it could even be turned off during feeding times.

Has anyone done anything like this before? I'm am just curious if there is any possibilities for problems with a setup like this.

Chris 8)

[witecap4u]

Sounds like a good idea. I think I will do that when I do my undergravel jets, and have them go off when my MH goes off. This will save on electricity a little also...cs

[ratboy]

A few years back I ran 2 rio 2500's in my reef. The only thing to consider really is the increased sump volume when only 1 pump is running.

[captexas]

Josh - One pump could just run the locline returns as a closed loop, but then that pump would have to have a separate drain line from the tank. I did drill two 2in. drain holes in the back of the tank which I realize is way too much for only a 75. I could just reduce one of them down for the closed loop.

I was afraid that it might be too much flow through the sump, but if I only had a single large pump, it would still be as much flow through it. So the closed loop idea would probably work better. Also thinking of using SQWD's on the locline returns to alternate the water flow so it is not a constant flow in one direction all the time.