Best Bang For Buck Pump For 210g Tank?

C

CyberCT

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Apr 7, 2009
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I will be picking up a 210 gallon tank in a few weeks and the pump the seller is supplying is a 2,400 gallon per hour Mag? pump. It's rather loud, and I'm concerned how much power it will consume for my monthly bill. It would turn the tank 11.4 times per hour. If i opt not to buy the pump, the seller will knock $100 off the total price of the complete aquarium setup purchase.

Now, if this is necessary I will keep it, no problem. But, if it is too much, could I go with a pump that would turn the tank over maybe 4 times per hour instead? That's what my buddy has on his 55 gal planted / fish tank and he has no issues. He's pretty knowledgable with his setup too.

Please suggest the best quality bang for the buck pump I should then purchase, on this site if it's there:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~pumps__index.html
 
Is the pump used for a sump setup? If so, you need to take into account the head generated from the distance the pump is from the output into the tank along with the head generated by the various fittings (elbows, bushings etc). Once you have a rough idea of what the total head will be, find the pump curve for the supplied pump and match that up the expected flow rate accordingly. The 2400 gph rating is most likely the max flow rate at 0 feet of head. I will go ahead and give a ballpark estimate that your pump head will be between 4 to 6 feet. Therefore the actual flow rate of your pump will be significantly lower than 2400 gph (maybe by as much as 40 to 60% depending on your pump, and you would be turning over the water in the tank 4 to 6 times per hour). The amount of times you should have your water to cycle through the filter depends on how heavy you plan on stocking the tank (10x per hour for heavy stocking I believe, someone correct me if I am wrong on this for large tanks).

You must also account for the max flow rates of all your equipment (sump, overflows, etc). These should ideally be matched up to the pump flow rate. On my system, the wed/dry filter is the limiting factor with a rated max flow of 300gph. My overflow is rated at 600 gph and I chose a pump with a max flow of 581gph. Given I have rougly 4 to 5 feet of head in the return, my pump flow comes out to be around 350-390 gallons per hour. I used a ball valve to slightly reduce the flow out of my pump in order to optimize the max flow for the entire system.

Be sure to read this thread on sizing a pump for your tank before you buy one: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47105
 
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Mag pumps are decent - I own several of them. They aren't too expensive and seem to hold up well. They are not completely silent, and not as energy efficient as some others. The inlet housing is also a poor design for running it externally - the FNPT threading is a great way to crack it by over tightening the inlet fitting.

Turnover is really going to depend on what kind of filtration system you are going to run. If you are doing a sump with a wet/dry, that will most likely be too much flow. I run 3-5x per hour turnover through mine.

Also, it will depend on whether you want to run a pump internally or externally - also dependant on what type of filtration you'll be employing.

That being said, 100 bucks for a used Mag 24 isn't a bad deal. If nothing else, take it and if you don't end up using it, you have a spare pump or you can just sell it off. but, answer some of those questions and I can try to give you a better recommendation.
 
OK thanks for the input. It is a sump setup, with wet/dry filtration. I don't have the tank and setup yet at my place, so I can't go check it for specifics on this topic. But hey, I'm learning more day by day. It took me more than a whole day to learn about lighting and figure out which light setup would work the best for me. I think I found it! :) 4 x 36" T5 HOs, 2 x 6,700k & 2 x 10,000k.
 
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