Looking for a new return pump

zemuss · Oct 1, 2015

I have the Deep Blue Reef Ready 60g cube and right now the Jebao DC3000 isn't cutting it regarding return flow.

I added a manifold to the system which splits my return into three different returns: display, reactor and fuge. This of course could have caused the issue I am having.

So what pump do you recommend for me?

I was looking at the latest pumps from Jebao the DCT8000 seems to be good, but also looking at the RLSS DC 10k.

ifarmer · Oct 3, 2015

Eheim 1262

Or mag drive 5 or 7

Harold Green · Oct 3, 2015

You need to ignore which pump for the moment and do the math on how much flow you need. Start with the size of the tank drains(about 600gph per 1" of drain), head height(distance water has to be lifted to return to tank). Add in any addition tap flows you need and you should find a pump that will flow that amount at the head height of the tank. Then it's time to decide which brand you want.

zemuss · Oct 5, 2015

The pump I have is fine for the tank if I didn't have it plumbed into a manifold, but i do so the head loss is the issue. The manifold adds more head loss because one pump is serving many devices.

So I guess I should just get a bigger Jebao pump like the dct 8000.

Harold Green · Oct 5, 2015

It may not be the most efficient method but I like to have a pump that's slightly larger than what I need so I can bleed off a bit of flow if necessary or have additional flow if I want to run a reactor off of it.