New 75 Gal Reef New Some Help

[tom-annette]

Hi Folks,

I know some of you have already been there and done that.

I am setting up a 75 gal reef ready tank with a 29 gal refugium from Glasscages.com. I have some questions on the size of the water pump to use. Right now I have a mag 7 on my old tank that I could use on the new one. Is this big enough to use? What if I also want to use the same pump to run a phosban reactor? What are your thoughts and suggestion on this.

Your suggestions would be greatly apprecated,

confused:

Tom

 

[Gordonious]

On the main page of reefcentral.com on the left there are some calculators which come in handy. Check out the head loss calc. Put in the type of pump you have. Measure the distance the water will travel from where your pump will be located in your tank to where the outputs will be in your display. Then you can get an idea of the gph it would be able to pump into the tank.

Then you can figure out how many times an hour it will be turning over the water in the tank an hour. This number is a common number used when people in the hobby describe water flow. How many times an hour you want to turn over you tank will depend on the type of animals you want to keep, if your going to have a lot of LR, type of substrate if any, and other things.

It can get more complicated then it needs to be for most of us, but start of with figuring out what your pump can do, keeping in mind it used so the gph might be slightly lower.(unless you don't clean it often which could really kill gph)

Let us know what you find out, ask any questions you like either here or in the DIYS forum, and good luck.

Jon

 

[tom-annette]

Thnk You, Jon. Your advise has given the information on wat I need to do. I will need to purchase a new pump for this application on the 75 gal tank.

 

[SeadooGTI]

Hi Tom and Annette,

I first want to say you only get one shot at doing it right so take your time in the set-up phase and get it right. Secondly, it is really too complex a question to answer in a couple of sentences, but I will give you some things to think about and put out the offer to come look at my setup in person to discuss it further if you want.

Things to think about...

- Don't buy a pump that delivers more than you can adequately drain... Throttling back a main circulation pump is inefficient and troublesome
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket (or water pump). Consider having alternate (not your primary pump) water circulation in your tank provided by high quality, low power consumption, pumps such as Tunze stream pumps. I am configuring this setup this week because I will be connecting the Tunze pumps to a Battery backup (UPS) that will keep circulation in the tank for awhile in the event of a power failure. In addition, there is a myriad of plumbing, pump and external circulation problems that can kill the tank so having internal circulation is a nice fallback.
- The larger the pump, the more heat is generated
- SPS dominated tanks need higher flow for the corals and also to keep the gunk in circulation where it can get to your filter system or fuge
- Gordonius gave good advice on the basics of traditional flow rate and turnover rates for saltwater tanks. Bear in mind that recommended turnover rates typically assume the main pump is your only means of providing circulation in the tank. You may be able to use a pump that is on the low end (or even below) the recommended turnover rates so long as you provide alternate circulation (closed loop or internal powerheads, stream pumps), and you can feed your refugium and additional components (phosban Rx) adequately.
-

 

[tom-annette]

Hi SeadooGTI,

I just sent you an e-mail, I hope, in reference to your offer.

 

[kaptken]

Hey Tom. the big factor is what flow rate can your overflow handle. you can run up to that. I use a mag 7 on my 75, mostly because the 500-600 gph it delivers to the tank is all my SOS syphon overflow can handle. more would be gooder. but i'm limited by the overflow rate.

 

[tom-annette]

Hey Ken, I have been advised that flow rate is 600 gph by glasscages.com

 

[kaptken]

well, then its like mine. a mag 7 will deliver 500 gph at 3 foot lift per the chart here at MD. using 70 watts.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_powerheads_pumps_danner_mag_drive_supreme.asp?CartId=

just a little under capacity. you might be able to go up to a quiet one 3000, it pumps 780 at zero lift so gets to the 640 gph at 3 foot according to their chart using only 40 watts, so less heat. but with a couple of 90 degree elbows and twists in the line will lower it some to the tank. is it a built in thru the bottom overflow?

oh , and Big Als has the 3000 on sale for 40 bucks.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...rib_id_0=2011&attrib_value_0=Pentair Aquatics

 

[fast94m]

I'm running a eheim 1260 at about 3/4 of full power, previously ran a mag 5 and before that a mag 9.5 that was just way too much. The eheim is quiet and powerful enough for that size tank if your sump is in your stand IMO. Quietness was a big thing for me and i try to adhere to the 3-5 times tank volume an hour though the sump. Best of luck