Which Red Dragon pump for basement sump?

[Ironwill723]

Building out a 300g 8 ft display. Equipment and sump will be in basement. Sump will be about 15 ft below top of display tank. I was interested in a DC pump. Red dragons from Royal Exclusiv seem to fit the bill. Any recommendations? I do not want an internal pump. I have used Reeflo and Panworld in the past but I am looking for a more energy efficient pump at this point. Tank will be reef with soft corals.

 

[Ironwill723]

Or a similar dc pump that is not Jebao.

 

[Jrich666]

I have a reeflo hammer head gold in my basement with almost the exact same distance between sump and tank. The flow rate in to the tank even at that distance is still very strong. It is an external pump but there are easy tutorials online how to set one up.

 

[Uncle99]

My Jebao DC-20000 has pushed a ton of water up 20 feet from my basement to my 230 and services my UV and frag tanks for 5 years running.

 

[Ironwill723]

My Jebao DC-20000 has pushed a ton of water up 20 feet from my basement to my 230 and services my UV and frag tanks for 5 years running.

Yeah...I've heard good things about them for the most part. Just worried about it breaking down after a year or two.

 

[Ironwill723]

I have a reeflo hammer head gold in my basement with almost the exact same distance between sump and tank. The flow rate in to the tank even at that distance is still very strong. It is an external pump but there are easy tutorials online how to set one up.

Yeah I've used that one before. Trying to get away from the 300+ watts per hour pumps. My seals always dripped with Reeflo as well.

 

[Ironwill723]

Also looking at Deltec E-Flow pumps but not much info on those.

 

[blaxsun]

Abyzz or Red Dragon.

 

[Ironwill723]

Yeah, leaning towards Red Dragon Speedy 3...not sure which size to get though.

 

[Uncle99]

Yeah...I've heard good things about them for the most part. Just worried about it breaking down after a year or two.

Heard that stuff as well.
I run from Jebao
6-SW’s….4 years…..but one did fail at 6 months.
4-Gyres…….3 years
2-Return Pumps…..5 years.

Absolutely silent, I can get three of them for one name brand, which, also have failure rates.

 

[mfinn]

@slief

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Also figure out what comfortable Height to put your Sump at, to work on it, it’s a pain in your knees, on the floor. A pain in your back bending over. Also it will greatly help your pump performance, the more drop you have from your sump, to the inlet of your pump. You don’t want the slightest bit of Cavitation. Something, I wished PE’s “Engineers,” learned when designing Cooling Tower Systems.

 

[reef_ranch]

you need the biggest RD3 - 230W. before switching to an Abyzz, I ran one from my remote sump through a 35' 1.5" return line to my tank. Gave plenty of flow if you don't need 5+ times tank turnover per hour.

 

[areefer01]

See if this thread below helps at all. If not I'd recommend you send Royal Exclusive an email via their portal / contact page with this question. They will get back to you pretty quick. They will also route it to the US support which is Scott as tagged above.

I am not running from a basement just under the display and went with the Red Dragon 3 Speedy 100 Watt (3100 gph). I always buy with display upgrades in mind so this will carry forward should I go larger than present (210 gallon). The reason for suggesting reaching out is because they do have a high pressure version and they will perform differently.

I will say not that it is important but the initial quality is very high. Shipping, box, product, instructions, and response to emails.

Royal Exclusiv Red Dragon 3 - High Pressure vs Flow?

I'm trying to figure out the difference between the two versions of the RD3 Speedy pump... Does anyone here have experience with them? I presume that the high pressure is meant to be used as a return, and the flow is meant to be used as a closed loop circulation pump; but both product pages say...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[slief]

Definitely the 230w. Flow if the head and friction losses are below 12’. The flow has a 1.5” output. High Pressure version if the combined head loss is greater then 12’. The HP version has a 1.25” output. You do NOT want to reduce the pumps output below the output size so if you have a pump with a 1.5” output, you want at least 1.5” plumbing up to the tank. If your returns are a pair of 1” or 3/4” lines then create a 1.5” or 2” manifold to feed of the reduced size lines. This will greatly reduce friction losses and not compromise the efficiency of the pump.

 

[Ironwill723]

Definitely the 230w. Flow if the head and friction losses are below 12’. The flow has a 1.5” output. High Pressure version if the combined head loss is greater then 12’. The HP version has a 1.25” output. You do NOT want to reduce the pumps output below the output size so if you have a pump with a 1.5” output, you want at least 1.5” plumbing up to the tank. If your returns are a pair of 1” or 3/4” lines then create a 1.5” or 2” manifold to feed of the reduced size lines. This will greatly reduce friction losses and not compromise the efficiency of the pump.

@slief Do you have an email I can contact you directly at?

 

[slief]

@slief Do you have an email I can contact you directly at?

I will send you a PM with my email. Or you could PM me regarding an questions you have.

 

[Ironwill723]

I will send you a PM with my email. Or you could PM me regarding an questions you have.

Thanks

 

[C_AWOL]

230w would be the best bet since the 150w isn't made anymore. High pressure likely would be a better option based on the fact that its an 8ft head height + likely a good number of other things like 90s as well.

 

[Montiman]

It may be just me but I would just get a big Iwaki. It should last forever and I have never had a leaky seal. I would put Iwaki build quality against Abyzz or RedDragon any day. Japanese Iwakis are the only pump that I have seen run for 20 years straight without cleaning.