180 gallon tank setup RETURN PUMP ADVICE...what would you use?

jfolley67

jfolley67

New member
Just wanting to see everyone's opinions before I purchase the return pump for the tank. Thanks to crumbletop, he has given me some ideas but thought I would reach out and see what people are using and what seems to be working for them well. Also what NOT to purchase for sometimes that is the best way to stay away from bad brands, from others experiences!
Thanks all....coming along sooooo slow but just now starting to think about getting the plumbing started this weekend. PLUMBING PARTY AT MY HOUSE!! haha!!!!

thanks everyone! :D
 
I would look at Panworlds. This is what I just purchased as a return pump for my new 120. I would stay away from Mag drive pumps as they tend to use alot of electricity and dump alot of heat into the water. Alot of people like the Eheims and Ocean Runners, but I am not a huge fan of these brands. GenX also makes a good, reliable pump, but they can be a little noisey. HTH
 
BTW, you should look into whether you need to match the flow of your skimmer feed pump. I'm not up to speed on what folks consider optimal. In general, my bias is to keep the return pump flow on the low side to decrease heat and noise.

Any luck figuring out what to do with the sump/refugium?
 
I agree with the Panworld pumps I have a 50px-x and I love it, adds no heat and is super quiet. I had a gen-x before this and it was a little too noisey for me.
 
thanks for all the advice.....no I have not had a chance to look into the sump yet, we have just been so busy. I like the idea though of keeping the flow a little lower for the return. I am checking into these pumps you talked about. I just could not remember the name of it...sorry! This weekend we are going to go buy the plumbing stuff and at least start matching things up. Then we have to still drill the hole in the stand right under the overflow....oh fun fun. The skimmer is an MR-2 with a pcx-40 pump....
 
I have gotten to where I think you don't really need a ton of flow for the return as well. If you don't have a huge amount of surface agitation most of the bad stuff that the skimmer will take out goes to the top of the water anyway.

Oh, no plumbing party for me. I just hooked up my well today and have had enough plumbing for a while. :)
 
2 things to figure out......how much water you want through your sump and how much you want to spend. Some contend that 3 to 5 times turnover through the sump is optimal some like to get as much as possible without creating microbubble problems etc...
Whatever you decide Iwaki pumps are widely regarded as the most reliable pumps on the market and that's what I use for my return(the most important pump in the tank:) ) As others have mentioned Pan World/Blueline pumps have a good rep and the GenX external pumps are good quality pumps for what you pay for them. As far as the GenX pumps go if you get a bad/noisy apple it will usually reveal itself to be so in short order. I have 2 running on my tank (CL and skimmer) and they have performed well for ~ 3 and 2 years respectively.
hth, Chris
 
HI Chris,

I am looking for moderate low flow because most of my flow will come from my tunze setup that I am putting in. I have 2 tunze 6100 pumps and a the wavemaker. I am looking forward to seeing these in the tank. What size Iwaki pump would you recommend on a 180 and are these internal or external pumps?
 
what about an md-30-rxt how does this compare to the pump you have chris...about 1140 I think in flow but it says japanese version....someone had one for sale online......
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10191392#post10191392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jfolley67
what about an md-30-rxt how does this compare to the pump you have chris...about 1140 I think in flow but it says japanese version....someone had one for sale online......
Click to expand...

That would be a nice pump IMO. You want the Japanese model (MD) an the RLXT not the RLT for a return. Those 2 are fairly similar, the 30 pushes a little less water but should be plenty for what you are trying to from what I understand.
This pump right?
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...&Product_Code=IWMD-30RLTX&Category_Code=Iwaki
Chris
 
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