How many GPH should pump?

[Diazreeflife]

I am at the stage of buying a pump for my tank, I'm looking at the ReeFlo Snapper/Dart Hybrid
3600/2600GPH should I go with the 2600 or set it up for the 3600? Also is this the pump to get I hear great things about it, but is there something just as good maybe less expensive?

My tank spec - 125 gallon / 30 gallon sump

David

 

[Reefing Madness]

I'd go with the 3600, great pumps. What are you plans for the pump? Just for flow? There are plenty of pumps out there cheaper than those, but it would depend on what your using it for. Then we can throw a few other pumps at ya.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'd go with the 3600, great pumps. What are you plans for the pump? Just for flow? There are plenty of pumps out there cheaper than those, but it would depend on what your using it for. Then we can throw a few other pumps at ya.

Really? You want him to turn over his sump 120 times an hour? If it's for a Closed Loop, OK, but not for an sump pump. So David, what are you going to use it for?

I have a Reeflo 2400gph pump on my CL and it works just fine. And Chris at Reeflo came through when I had a leak develop at 18 months with no charge parts. They do have better than average service. But at 4 years it is starting to get a bit loud. So I'm buying 3 DC12000 pumps (3000+gph, 6 speeds, feed mode, uses less electricity and it's a smaller footprint) for just $120 each. One to replace the Reeflo 2400, one to replace my Little Giant in sump pump and one to keep on the shelf as a back up.

 

[mfinn]

I am at the stage of buying a pump for my tank, I'm looking at the ReeFlo Snapper/Dart Hybrid
3600/2600GPH should I go with the 2600 or set it up for the 3600? Also is this the pump to get I hear great things about it, but is there something just as good maybe less expensive?

My tank spec - 125 gallon / 30 gallon sump

David

If you are looking for a return only pump, on a 125 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump, I would go with a much slower pump. Something in the 700 gph to 800 gph range.
Use those bigger pumps for closed loops.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Really? You want him to turn over his sump 120 times an hour? If it's for a Closed Loop, OK, but not for an sump pump. So David, what are you going to use it for?

I have a Reeflo 2400gph pump on my CL and it works just fine. And Chris at Reeflo came through when I had a leak develop at 18 months with no charge parts. They do have better than average service. But at 4 years it is starting to get a bit loud. So I'm buying 3 DC12000 pumps (3000+gph, 6 speeds, feed mode, uses less electricity and it's a smaller footprint) for just $120 each. One to replace the Reeflo 2400, one to replace my Little Giant in sump pump and one to keep on the shelf as a back up.

Easy there crusher. Don't believe that he stated what he was using it for. As I believed I asked him what he was planning on using it for.

 

[Diazreeflife]

I'm using it for a return pump it will sit on the side of my sump. I hear that I should go with a high GPH and I hear it should be lower, what's the right answer? Also it will be a mixed reef tank.

I'm a little confused when u say "sump pump" the only pump I will have in the sump is attached to the skimmer. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the help!
David

 

[mfinn]

I'm using it for a return pump it will sit on the side of my sump. I hear that I should go with a high GPH and I hear it should be lower, what's the right answer? Also it will be a mixed reef tank.

I'm a little confused when u say "sump pump" the only pump I will have in the sump is attached to the skimmer. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the help!
David

There are 2 different schools of thought when you are talking about flow through the sump.
Neither one is wrong. You can go with one or the other.

I happen to like a slower flow. Usually in the 5 x the tank volume. On smaller tank/sump combos, even a little slower.
I think using a 2600 to 3600 gph pump on a 30 gallon sump is way too much.

 

[ARNALDOLEX]

I have a 180 and use the jebao 12000 it is a amazing oump able to pump out 2700gph the things I like is I paid 170 shipped on ebay its supwr quiet compared to my old mag it turns of if senses no water for like a minute and your able to control the flow on the controller from like 600gph and up awesome pump I really recommend it

 

[mfinn]

Another question. What dia. pipe do you have for your overflow?
That is going to determine how big you can go.

 

[Diazreeflife]

Another question. What dia. pipe do you have for your overflow?
That is going to determine how big you can go.

My overflow is 2 1.5 inch pipies.

Inverse interested in the Jabeo DC12000 are these quiet and reliable?

Thanks so much guys for all the input so far!

 

[mfinn]

You do have alot of capasity for gph in your drains, but you really don't want to try and force that much water through a 30 gallon sump.
If it were me, I would use a lower flow pump for the return and go with a high flow pump on a closed loop, or use powerheads like Tunze or EcoTechs.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Quick read here. Will give you a better idea whats going on in a sump.
Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

 

[Diazreeflife]

Yes thank u I think I will go with the DC12000, as for the high flow I'm using two Jabao power heads WP-40.

Can someone that is using or will be using the DC-12000 chime in on their experience?

David

 

[evan.lundberg4]

I've always been told that you want to match your return pump GPH, after head loss, with the processing rate of your skimmer. So say your skimmer processes 300 to 400 GPH then you would want a pump that is closer to that out maybe more that you could throttle back a bit. Plus lower flow will let things settle in the sump so you can easily suck them out. Just my opinion :thumbup:

 

[skyline377]

The Jebao pump is awsome!!! I had a oceanrunner 3500 pump that fail on me in just a little over a year.I contacted aquamedic and they wanted me to buy another one for a discount price of $95. I gave the jebao pump a try and I will not look back. Super quiet and love the feed mode and speed adjustment. I brought a extra one for back one.

 

[Diazreeflife]

Quick read here. Will give you a better idea whats going on in a sump.
Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

Thank you for the link!

 

[ReeferBob]

Wow, yeah that is a rediculous amount of flow for your system. I have a Eheim 1252 on my 125 with 40g sump and that is too much I have it dialed way back. Your sump will literally boil with the discharge. Also you might want to look at the power consumption of that pump and plug those numbers into a power usage calculator to see how much that pump is going to cost you to run each month. My guess is close to $40/month.

 

[Tylermacdonald15]

I prefer to have slower flow through the sump. It gives the water time to flow slowly through the refugium if you have one, and more time for all your other gizmos to filter out the water. If you have fast flow through the sump the water is there and gone before things like skimmers and reactors can pump the water through. Of course the skimmer is still going to work but it has more of a chance of missing something when the water is flying by. I have two mag 12 pumps on my 210. In the display I have crazy flow with a mp60 but slow flow through the sump.

 

[Tylermacdonald15]

So to answer your question I would do like 1800gph. And add circulation pumps in the display for flow.

 

[mcarroll]

Good advice here. ...will give my $0.02 as well.

Having a monster return pump is old-school. Before there were propeller pumps such as the Tunze Stream (now they have the Stream 2 and Nanostreams), increasing the size of your return pump was as good or better than adding little nozzle pumps/powerheads like the MaxiJet in the tank.

In some situations, a huge return pump is still required, but it's almost always due to a sump being located in the basement below the tank - not for higher flow per se.

These days your return pump is primarily used to feed your filters (often just a skimmer) in the sump. 2x - 4x the gallonage of your display in gallons per hour is all the flow you really need to shoot for. 250-500 gph of actual throughput should be great! Any more than that and you are usually wasting power and creating noise and bubble issues anyway.

For water flow in the tank - since it is such a long, narrow tank - I would pick Tunze powerheads based on performance. Their flow is still directional where almost every other flow pump on the market has a very wide flow - many are even non-directional or only very slightly adjustable. Being able to aim the flow literally however you want it, as well as being able to channel it across the 72" length of the tank will be very handy and that'll be difficult or impossible with most other powerheads. I think you could get by with a minimum of 1-2 Tunze powerheads, depending on how the tank turns out. IMO you would need a minimum of three or more powerheads of wide flow design, and I don't think you'd be as happy with the results.

Hope this helps!

-Matt