Just starting out in south Florida

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R! It is hard to give broad advice because every reefer's budget, needs, and desires is different. On the pumps, in general DC is easier to tune to your system but AC is less expensive. There are very good examples of both types. Start by figuring out what you need for flow and don't forget to account for head pressure. Turnover of between 4 and 10 times your total system volume are usually recommended for a reef tank. Some go higher than that on FOWLRs. Then look at pumps that supply between 1.5 and 3 times your needed flow as a rough-guess start. I'm sure that some local reefers will chime in and don't forget that many LFSs are pretty good at their craft.

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Eric.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Hello, welcome! Tampa area here.

Fowlr tank, good choice, excellent way to get your fins wet when jumping into the hobby.

Don't worry you will get hooked, and there's no going back!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Welcome to reef2reef!!!!! Florida??? Like having a lfs in your back yard!!!

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

 

[Fishy888]

Hi and welcome to R2R! You’ll find people here who are friendly, knowledgeable, and ready to help. I hope you’ll start a build thread. We’d love to see your reef as it progresses.

 

[Hanzelyclan]

Welcome! Have fun

 

[Eric06]

I appreciate the support. Good to know I have people to answer questions. I was planning to get 2 pumps. Would 2 of any of these be sufficent? Preference to which brand/model pump? Are they all junk?

 

[Fishy888]

What size tank do you have? The flow you’ll need will be 4x to 10x your tank’s volume after taking the head into consideration.

Head is basically the height your pump will have to push water up through the return line. If you have to use elbows for the PVC pipe it will create additional resistance in addition to the head.

 

[Eric06]

120 gallon 48x24. Bulkheads are on bottom of tank. Pumps/sump will be directly under tank

 

[ScubaShane]

Thats a good tank and sump. Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Fishy888]

Perfect! Then you’ll probably only have something like 4 to 5 feet of head. You want between 480 and 1200 GPH coming out of the return and into the display tank. If it was me I’d get the freesea pump that’s 740 to 1340 GPH for your return pump. You might even want a higher flow so you can add a calcium reactor, a GFO reactor, or a skimmer for instance. Of course you may want a separate pump to handle add ons. Either way would work.

 

[Eric06]

I plan to get 2 pumps as there's two overflows / 4 bulkheads.
Do I need another pump for protein skimmer?

 

[Fishy888]

If you have a return pump that can handle a skimmer and any other accessories you want to run; while still returning water to the DT then technically you won’t need a separate pump. I personally would prefer a separate pump because different skimmers need different flow rates. Having a separate pump would mean you could keep your return pump its current size and flow rate. If your drain line isn’t able to keep up with a larger return pump then you definitely need to have a pump dedicated to your skimmer.

 

[Eric06]

Is having 3 pumps for only a 120 gallon excessive?

 

[FreshSaltH2o]

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Is having 3 pumps for only a 120 gallon excessive?

That depends on how they are being used, it could be, but it could also not be enough, what are you doing with the 3? All for returns to the display? If so it does seem excessive but maybe not as well.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Is having 3 pumps for only a 120 gallon excessive?

No... depending pumps and how you use them might even be insufficient...

EDIT: but depending pumps and how you use them, might even be fine... lol

Our local hobby club recently had SICCE come speak on pumps and flow myths:

 

[Syntax1235]

Welcome!

There are quite a few threads for beginners on this site. A quick search will keep you reading for weeks!

good luck, it’s a marathon not a sprint.