Overflow and return pump for ~360gallon?

[MjOB]

Hey everyone, I'm getting a 96" x 30" x 30" acrylic tank for a mixed reef aquarium, should be roughly 360 gallons with a 120 gallon sump.

Would the Modular Marine 3000gph low profile overflow and EcoTech Vectra L2 (3100gph) return pump be sufficient for an overflow and return pump? (I'll have additional powerheads in the tank obviously). Would there be a better return pump? I was hoping to keep the return pump to ~$500 or less.

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[Dolphins18]

I'd prefer more turnover on a tank that size, when a pump pushes up several feet you can expect a fairly large reduction in the rated GPH.
Dual overflows with 2 of those pumps would put you in great shape. You can even go with cheaper pumps to make it more affordable.
I'd imagine pushing up is more like 2000-2200 GPH on that pump, a turnover of 4x per hour, the right place for turnover is between 8-10x per hour imo, so dual 3k gph pumps would put you right where you want to be.

 

[MjOB]

I'd prefer more turnover on a tank that size, when a pump pushes up several feet you can expect a fairly large reduction in the rated GPH.
Dual overflows with 2 of those pumps would put you in great shape. You can even go with cheaper pumps to make it more affordable.
I'd imagine pushing up is more like 2000-2200 GPH on that pump, a turnover of 4x per hour, the right place for turnover is between 8-10x per hour imo, so dual 3k gph pumps would put you right where you want to be.

Would I effectively need 2 sumps in order to have 2 return pumps?

 

[Dolphins18]

Would I effectively need 2 sumps in order to have 2 return pumps?

No not at all, essentially one return pump would run to one side of the tank, and the other to the opposite side. This is also really nice in the event of a pump failure, that way you still have water moving from top to bottom without having to wait for a replacement.

 

[MjOB]

No not at all, essentially one return pump would run to one side of the tank, and the other to the opposite side. This is also really nice in the event of a pump failure, that way you still have water moving from top to bottom without having to wait for a replacement.

Interesting, looking back it looks like the posts/articles I read were discussing not doing multiple in series.

Can I trust the 3000gph for Modular Marine (https://modularmarine.com/collectio...ow-profile-overflow-box-with-removable-weir)? I ideally want the 1 external overflow (Tank will be up against a wall into a corner, so I'm wanting the overflow to be accessible on the left end)

If I could get by with the 1 external overflow at 3000gph and do 2 return pumps, and get that 8x, that'd be my ideal.

But if I can't trust that, I'll work on figuring something else out.

 

[MjOB]

Also, can I get something with "inside skimmer box- 30" x 1.375" x 5.5" tall" into a 30" wide aquarium, or do I need some wiggle room there?

 

[KStatefan]

Also, can I get something with "inside skimmer box- 30" x 1.375" x 5.5" tall" into a 30" wide aquarium, or do I need some wiggle room there?

Is the 30" aquariur dimension the inside or outside?

 

[Dolphins18]

Interesting, looking back it looks like the posts/articles I read were discussing not doing multiple in series.

Can I trust the 3000gph for Modular Marine (https://modularmarine.com/collectio...ow-profile-overflow-box-with-removable-weir)? I ideally want the 1 external overflow (Tank will be up against a wall into a corner, so I'm wanting the overflow to be accessible on the left end)

If I could get by with the 1 external overflow at 3000gph and do 2 return pumps, and get that 8x, that'd be my ideal.

But if I can't trust that, I'll work on figuring something else out.

As long as the external overflow box is rated for at least 5000-5500 GPH this should not be a problem.

 

[outhouse]

Way to much flow that is not needed. I have close to 300 g system and only run 300 to 400 gph. It's been fine for decades. Most tanks returns not designed for high flow and the noise would be stupid how loud it would be. Not much flow is needed for said equipment to run your tank. Don't overthink your sump. I run a 100g basement sump, and only run my pump at 45 % it saves lots of electricity and keeps noise levels in check.

 

[KStatefan]

Way to much flow that is not needed. I have close to 300 g system and only run 300 to 400 gph. It's been fine for decades. Most tanks returns not designed for high flow and the noise would be stupid how loud it would be. Not much flow is needed for said equipment to run your tank. Don't overthink your sump. I run a 100g basement sump, and only run my pump at 45 % it saves lots of electricity and keeps noise levels in check.

I have always been surprised at the range of flow that is recommended I think I have seen from 1 to 20 times. I think some of that comes from people purchasing a 1000 gph at 0' for their 100 gallon tank then say they are running 10X flow.

 

[MjOB]

After enough digging I did find another thread on here where people clarified that the "10x turnover" is just overall GPH flow within the tank: sump + powerheads combined, and that really 2-4x "sump turnover" is sufficient (so in a 360 gallon tank, 720-1440gph).

I am not certain on inside vs outside dimensions. The tank is still being made. The LFS told me the acrylic comes in 96" x 48" sheets, and so they were going to do a 96" x 30" x 30" for me and then the LFS was going to build a 18" tall frag tank out of the remainder. I have messaged him about if the 30" inside part of the 3000gph marine modular would work or not, haven't heard back yet.

 

[outhouse]

You don't need more than 300 gph for a sump a frag tan. I ran an Iwaki that did 600gph and it was way to noisy and my electricity bill stupid. Switched to DC pump and turned it way down. Now running a 2643 gph pump but at 45% and with 8 feet of head pressure I'm close to 300 to 400 gph. No reason to go AC

 

[outhouse]

Think about the accident factor, with high flow it leaves no room for error and something is flooding. I'm on a ato from a 10g storage tank so worse case my tank doesn't get to much fresh water no matter what happens. Anything above 500gph and it usually maxes out a dual overflow

 

[1ocean]

Hey everyone, I'm getting a 96" x 30" x 30" acrylic tank for a mixed reef aquarium, should be roughly 360 gallons with a 120 gallon sump.

Would the Modular Marine 3000gph low profile overflow and EcoTech Vectra L2 (3100gph) return pump be sufficient for an overflow and return pump? (I'll have additional powerheads in the tank obviously). Would there be a better return pump? I was hoping to keep the return pump to ~$500 or less.

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Ecotech will be around $500.00 or so even with price increases.
Maybe look for some slightly used ones, thats what I did, scored two for less then price of one! I know down the road I will have to buy new ones, but maybe by then they will have improved models...

 

[Ocelaris]

There is a wide range of pumps from the most expensive DC to outboard ac pumps. I personally found the sicce to be a very reliable quiet pump. The point of two pumps is redundancy when one fails (which it will). I have two on my 250 gallon. If you're going to use one for a manifold to drive external carbon, gfo etc... Add that to the equation. 10x was the old number and many people are using half that these days, as turnover is not as important with today's wavemakers. Plan flow based on your planned equipment. Ideally any chiller, uv, carbon, gfo would not return to the sump, so if you can dump their output to the other pump that's ideal. Brs has a bunch of videos on YouTube that I'd recommend. Pumps do add heat, so don't go overboard, but I like enough flow that I keep the refugium, skimmer etc... More or less equal in temp/nutrients to the tank.

 

[Jubei2006]

Sump flow only needs to be in the 3 to 5 times per hour range. Gives you more dwell time for more efficient skimming of water, more contact time for your UV sterilizer if being used, and more time for your refugium to do its thing. Using a sump as a means of tank flow is not the best idea. A lot more efficient to use in tank powerheads and wave makers.