Cool, quiet pump/external or sump? Help please.

R

rridle

New member
A friend gave me his 120 g reef tank. The tank is currently running with two 9.5 mag drive pumps mounted externally. Lighting is LED with no canopy. Tank temp is 82, with the house AC set at 75. (I live in FL). Both pumps feel warm, with one warmer than the other. I'm concerned with the tank temp as there are times when the house temperature will be as high as 78-80. I suspect the pumps are the issue.

That said, if I replace the pumps, what would you all recommend? One pump, two, run in sump or external? Brand, size? Quiet and cool are important. I don't want to break the bank but I don't want poorly made either. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
That's such a wide open question, really need to know what budget you're comfortable with since that greatly effects the recommendations, one persons reasonable is different than others.

My opinion would be one pump vs two and to go to a DC based system because the power consumption is considerably lower (which should mean less heat) but I don't know if that's going to make a big enough difference. I keep my house at 68-70 and tank stays right around 78 depending on how much I vent the sump. If I keep the stand closed up the temp can creep up to 80 but if I open it up full time I have to run heaters...

The return pump is only one of the items heating the water though, what other circulation pumps do you have in there and how far off the water are the lights? Those can make a big difference as well.
 
mlb75 said:
That's such a wide open question, really need to know what budget you're comfortable with since that greatly effects the recommendations, one persons reasonable is different than others.

My opinion would be one pump vs two and to go to a DC based system because the power consumption is considerably lower (which should mean less heat) but I don't know if that's going to make a big enough difference. I keep my house at 68-70 and tank stays right around 78 depending on how much I vent the sump. If I keep the stand closed up the temp can creep up to 80 but if I open it up full time I have to run heaters...

The return pump is only one of the items heating the water though, what other circulation pumps do you have in there and how far off the water are the lights? Those can make a big difference as well.
Click to expand...

Mike,

Lights are about 8" from the surface. There are two Koralia power heads in the tank. Not sure which model but I'll guess evolution 1500. As far as budget, I'd be willing to go up to about $350 but if I could do it for less that would be nice. I see you're in Chesapeake. I grew up in VB. Is Animal Jungle still open?

Bob
 
The Vectra's seem like solid pumps from what I've seen but they're at the top of your price range, there are several others DC pumps out there cheaper but I'm a pretty firm believer you get what you pay for especially when service is a part of the equation. I'm sure you'd be fine with the smaller of the two based on your tank size as long as the sump is under the tank and not in a basement which it probably isn't being your in FL.

I haven't ever used LED lights on a tank but raising the light a tad might help with heat a bit as well. That may or may not make a big difference but replacing two Mag pumps with a single DC pump should. I'd still run it external if possible but that's just my preference.

When you plumb it just make sure to use larger pipe where ever possible since that will allow the pump to be much more efficient, keeping everything cooler. That's one of the things I like the most about the DC pumps, you can control the output via input voltage rather than having to throttle back the output with a valve thus making the pump work harder which creates more heat.

Unfortunately Animal Jungle closed a couple years ago, the owner passed and apparently his kids didn't want to take it over so everything was sold and closed. I wasn't a big fan of buying corals or fish from them because the health of those varied greatly depending on who was working there at the time but I did love going to the store for other things and did so because it was a mini zoo in there which I always appreciated.

One of these days I'll be moving south as well, we travel down to FL several times a year and it gets tougher to come back north every time.
 
I'm in Florida as well, and we keep our house at 82 when the A/C is on. I have used Jebao DC12000 and now a Jebao DCT15000 and they have been good pumps. The DC12000 I ran one in the sump (return pump) to 250g of water split into 2 tanks and one external on a closed loop system. They were both dead quiet and the external one was barely above room temp!

The DCT15000 has a hum at the higher speeds in my new sump, but as it runs on only the 4th speed of 10, it makes no noise. BTW, with led lighting my tanks run about 78F now. I suspect they would get 2 to 4 degrees warmer in the summer.
 
Old school here, I switched out my Ehiem submersible for a Japanese Iwaki a few months back, mounted on a piece of closed cell foam with rubber washers on both sides of the mount screws. There's a bit of a hum, but it's far quieter than the Ehiem was. Easier to service, too.
 
The Wave line DC pumps are a good option for people who want a quit pump, that doesn't create very much heat.

And an awesome thing about this pump is it's super efficient, if you have the 1500 GPH pump (that I have) and you only have it on a little over half speed it would work out to be only $30 USD a year for electricity.

I have a buddie that has a 1200+ Gallon reef and he loves these pumps.

It only costs about $250 USD


Here's the pump on aquarium depot, unfortunately it looks like its out of stock at the moment.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Waveline...um_Powerheads-Waveline-6F64931-FIPHAD-vi.html
 
I like my ocean runner pump. It's been quietly moving water for 8 years or so and hasn't needed anything more than normal cleaning. It's more energy efficient than Mag drives, and puts off less heat.

I ran a single 2500 on my 120g, but it's WAY under powered for anything more than moving water slowly from the sump to the DT. I used 3 MP40s in the DT, so I wasn't hurting for flow, but you need to know that the returns were slightly more than a trickle. Two 2500s would be solid, or maybe a single of their larger pumps.

There are a ton of options for return pumps. This is a good one, but so are many others.
 
Thank you all for the replies. For the time being I'm running with just one of the mag 9.5's (the cooler one) and temp dropped to 77-78. I'll replace both 9.5's with a single D.C. Pump.

Mike,

That's too bad about Animal Jungle and the owner. He wasnt that old. I briefly worked at the College Park location 20+ years ago. The VB store was always fun just to walk through.
 
I ran two of these on my 225g tank. Quiet, cool, reasonably priced, energy efficient, and effective. Not sure you are open to reducing the amount of flow going through your sump.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Tunze_Re...uarium_Powerheads-Tunze-TZ1737-FIPHFF-vi.html

If you insist on flow more comperable to the 9.5, consider these:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Tunze_Re...uarium_Powerheads-Tunze-TZ1739-FIPHFF-vi.html

If you want a DC controllable version:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Tunze_Re...uarium_Powerheads-Tunze-TZ1741-FIPHAD-vi.html
 
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