Im wondering which return pump i get. I am building a 40g. With the sump minus sand and rocks i should be at +- 60g. It will be pumping up about 3 1/2' - 4' head. What should turnover w/o power heads be. Ive heard 4times on the low end and 10 on the triton method. What are you all running?
Turnover rate? Which pump?
- Thread starter Fishhands
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- 40 breeder flow pumps turnover
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mcarroll
10K Club member
The Lifeguard Quiet One 2200 is very inexpensive, very efficient and comes with a 5 year warranty. Mag, Sicce and Eheim are my other favorites, which I like a lot too, but for the price it's hard not to look at the QO.
mfinn
likes zoanthids
For a 40 gallon display tank anywhere in the neighborhood of 4x to 6x the tank volume after headloss.
Justin84
Community Member
Do you have an idea of you want an external or internal pump, DC or AC? You can always go heavy on the flow of a pump and dial back to your needs! I like the idea of a DC pump just because of the controllability and less heat introduced if you run internal pump. I have an external AC pump for mine but I'm also pushing water from my basement so... 
Justin84
Community Member
I like Sicce pumps my 1st big pump was a HF10! Head loss would depend on how high, how many 90s or 45s you would have in your system. There are calculators out there to help determine head loss such as this one (http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/head-loss-calculator) but I personally like to error on the side of more is better on a pump! Allows you to be flexible for possibly adding a manifold for reactors and whatnot!
mcarroll
10K Club member
Good question for them.
Other than the additional expense of the pump and power to run it and the additional bother of plumbing around the associated noise issues that come with running from two to five times the amount of sump flow you need, it isn't going to hurt anything. But sump flow anywhere from 2x to 4x will work great and has none of the additional plumbing needs and lets you use a smaller pump that uses less power. What's the benefit that goes along with the cost of going so much bigger?
IMO, run 4x if you want "a lot" of flow. Even 5x is really overkill IME. If needed, put a big cheap powerhead (e.g. Seio 1000) in the sump to keep things stirred up more down there. I do that and never have to clean my sump.
skim
Well-Known Member
No the flow rate is not the same Sicce 4.0, it does 951 gal and the M1 does 2000 gal. The point was about total heat and Sicce was 36.2 C total in Cabinet. The M1 would be 45.6 = pump, Power Supply= 57.1, and Controller 34.6 for a total of 137.3 C. Even taken the average of 45.7 C you would be looking at 45 C min in a closed Cabinet most likely in the low 50's. I am trying to say not to use one but most just talk about how quiet DC pumps are and it's left at that. Yes they are very quiet but they have some trade off's that some or most do not notice. I use a Jebao DC 6000 for about 5 years now and have had zero problems. There is also another thing with the DC pumps and that is as you turn down the Voltage to the pump with the Controller they become very inconsistent with flow rate and with a Sicce, and I am sure anyone who has used one will say they are underrated on the flow rates and flow rate is very consistent, workhorse and I would say best pump for the buck going. If you can live with a small amount of hum I would say go with Sicce, they also have probably the best warranty of 3 to 5 years depending if you bought from a authorized dealer. That is unheard of in this Hobby.
mcarroll
10K Club member
Have you seen anyone compare them with a dB meter?
My AC pump is so quiet that even the house's HVAC system is loud enough to drown it out, even when I'm working with my head over the sump. It's just hard to imagine it being much quieter than this quiet.
