What pump to use..?

[Maxpower]

Hey,
Im putting a sump in for my 80G and im just wondering if anyone has recondmentions for a pump to take the water back up to my closed loop. it has to go 4 feet and im trying to get 2000gph(i belive thats right for a 80g, it should be 25x the tank size?) im looking at magdrives,and Quiet One. I would like it to be as quiet as possible.

[burban94]

I have a mag-drive 18 on my 20 gallon sump connected to my 80 gallon display and it is virtually inaudible.

[fsn77]

Do you have big enough or a large enough number of drains to support pumping that much water from your sump to your display tank? Most 1" drains are only rated for appoximately 600 gph -- and that's typically without any bends in the plumbing.

The idea of turnover rate in a display tank tends to be more of a combination of a return pump + power heads and/or a closed loop and not strictly the flow created by a single large pump. Many recommendations for flow through a sump or sump / refugium combination are in the 5 - 10x per hour turn rate to allow for adequate exposure for the skimmer or any macroalgae.

As for pump options, I'd go with a MagDrive instead of a Quiet One any day. For 2,000 gph at 4', that would put you looking at Mag 24.

[Maxpower]

Ok so then i only need about 800GPH then ill need to put in 2 1'' drains( one in each side of the tank) which should get about 1200GPH . and then i was going to make my return line 3/4. It will be set under my sand with 5 outlets poping out of the sand. 3 behind my LR and 1 in each front corner. Im thinking about the Mag1200 which i figure after the 90's and 45's along with the head hight it will bring it down to around 1000gph. I made some crude drawings so you get the idea. If anyone has some constructive critisim that would be great. Id hate to mess something up and waste my money lol

[Reefscape]

personally, if it was me, i would not have the returns going back to the tank as you have in the drawings. In the event of a power failure, they are just going to allow the entire contents of the tank to flood back down to the sump which can get very messy and wet indeed.

I would just have the inlets coming from one end of the tank, and the return at the other. The return needs to be quite high up in the tank to stop back flow of water. You can install a weir around the outlets which will then also set the water level in the tank for normal running.

If you want to have a closed loop, then make it exactly that, closed. The closed loop should be seperate from your sump plimbing and have its own dedicated pump, so if the power goes off, the pump stops and the water stays where it is, in the tank..

Just my thoughts and observations so far..

Niko

[Maxpower]

Thanks atnixon. When i said closed loop ment to say under gravel jet. i am going to put in a check valve on the return so if the power does go out my tank wont drain. And another question...what is a weir?

[Reefscape]

a weir is sectioned off area of the tank and surrounds the outlet bulkhead that goes off to the sump. It not only serves to set the water level of the tank, but is also there to stop fish and inverts going on a helter skelter ride down to the sump....Ok, i should say, "in theory" it should stop them, however, where there is a will, there is a way....

Niko

[Maxpower]

ohh i see. So is there a specific size to make it because i assume if its too big it wont fill up fast enough and if its too small it will fill up too fast.

[Reefscape]

that is all down to the bulkhead used and the plumbing side of things...Another point to remember with a weir and setting water height, the water will usually be about 10mm ( 1cm ) higher than the teeth on the weir...

Niko