Ok guys let's talk flow.
@Katrina71 asked earlier if I was going to be using mud in the fuge, and with that I can say no. Never have and don't plan to this time. I usually run 4-6" of sand, a good bit of rock, some mangroves and whatever macro algaes tickle my fancy.
For flow inside the tank itself I'll be moving over the two MP-40s from the 60G as well as the Icecap Gyre. I honestly can't remember which one I have as they change the model every 3 days, but I'll update it on the equipment list when the time comes.
Combined with good flow inside the tank I like to maintain pretty good flow through the sump itself. I personally felt there were two options here:
1. One large pump with a backup. Something like the COR 20, Vectra L1 or VarioS -8
2. Run two smaller pumps in parallel, similar to how I have my heaters setup. The options here were the COR 15, Vectra M1 and the VarioS-6
I'll be honest right off the bat I eliminated the two COR pumps from my list as I honestly do not like dealing with Neptune CS. I don't want to turn this into a gripe fest, but I've had to deal with them a few times about different things and twice I've walked away wanting to punch kittens and kick puppies.
The VarioS-6 advertises 1720GPH @ 70W max or about 24.5gph per watt. The Vectra M1 advertises 2000gph at 80W or about 25gph per watt. I would consider that a pretty negligible difference. The VarioS can be run off of my Apex, but that's not something I trust the Apex with as I personally prefer to run my return pump only directly off of a UPS in case power drops, then I have cascading backups after that.
The deciding factor for me was actually the outlet diameter for each pump. The native output diameter of the VarioS is 1.25" which is actually larger than my overflow plumbing which is only 1". This means I would have to restrict down to 3/4" at some point which means all of the advertised numbers change. This left a clear winner in my mind.
We've only ordered one for the time being as I want to see if one of these bad boys will max out my return flow on 100% power. I'm a huge fan of
@Vivid Creative Aquatics RFGs and run them on every tank I have. As the tank itself already comes with (2) 3/4" return nozzles, I'll be swapping those to RFGs and running the return flow through those.
https://ecotechmarine.com/products/vectra