Pump too strong

Kewlworm

Kewlworm

New member
Ok, I have a Mag9.5 w/ 1" PVC as return pump and only 20L gal tank as a sump (which is half full during normal operation). It drains/return about 700GPH and create microbubbles! I had redone 4 times and tried bubbles tower(it helped, but not eliminated). I am now considering using a Mag7 instead or split the return on the Mag9.5.

If I go the spliting route, I will redo the plumbing w/ 1.5" and 1" PVC. The return will be on the left and right of the tank (about 4' apart). But I am not sure where should the split be (the top or the middle)?

Thanks!
Gary
 
are you seeing the pump suck in microbubbles int he sump? make sure all your return connections are sealed for sure.

i think its too big of a pump though also. you can try T ing off your return, to send some water back into the sump. you can fine tune it with a ball valve till you dont see any bubbles anymore, or the best you can.
 
I did T off the return, but didn't really like the idea of returning the water to the sump (kinda waste of power:)).

I am thinking 1.5" PVC from the pump up to the top of tank (~4 ft) then T it w/ 1" PVC and into the tank. Total length about 8 ft w/ 1xT connector, 2x90* elbow, and 4x45* (2 of the 45* elbow will be in the water).

Do you guys think I will be getting at least 375gph? The tank is 125 gal.

Thanks!
 
Yeah, the sump is too small, but I can't really anything else under my tank because of the 29gal fuge I have. I should of gotten the Mag7 from the beginning. :(
 
ok you have a sump and a sep fuge what are you keeping in youre tank i tink youre problem is the pluming the more flow you have in the tank the beter a pic can help me out to tell you how to set up youre tank i have a good idea but is hard for me to know how to help with out a picture
 
For fish, I have 2 clowns, royal gramma, lawnmower blenny, and a yellow watchman goby. Some snails and hermits. I also have some softies, a small frag of blasto (7 polyps), monti cap frag, and a frag of frogspawn.
 
If you have the fuge, you really shouldn't be looking for so much flow through it, you want to have a steady slow flow through the fuge so it can have time to do its job, have it go through too fast limits its benefits. As for microbubbles, if you don't seem them going through your sump and into your pump, its a plumbing issue, you have a air spot somewhere in your plumbing. Also, are your return heads beneath the water line or above, if they are above or half and half, this can also create microbubbles. As far as flow, try to get that from Powerheads/streams/etc. Don't ever try to maximize the flow in your tank through your return pump, get the sufficient gph you are looking for and set it there and as I said, get flow from other sources.

Hope this helps,
-Mike C.
 
The microbubbles are all from the sump/fuge. No air spot in my plumbing. The fuge get about 200-250gph and the sump get the rest. If I knew about the microbubbles, I would of gotten a smaller pump.

I should have good flow just from powerhead. I have 2xmj900 w/ stream mod and 1xregent powerhead also moded. I would say I get about 2000 gph from the 2xmj and 400gph from the powerhead = ~2400gph just from power head.

I was aiming for 5x my tank volume while choosing the pump, but forgotten about the microbubbles(actually, underestimate the microbubbles). :(

O, and the pump is underwater.

The problem is the sump is too small...I am trying to work around it by slowing down the return pump by spliting the return line.

Thanks!
 
i have a 180g and a 80g sump refeugium i guess you just have to pland and costume make one with all incluit and just use one pump for the sump and all and the mag for a small close loop
 
actually, if you can, slow down the flow from the return pump with a ball valve and see if that helps. I have mag 18 I have used, mag 9.5's, mag 12's, mag 3, 7, 24, basically ALL of them, never had a problem with microbubbles, so I know its not your pump.... This is probably something I would have to see in person to really understand, but to my advantage, I have never had a microbubble problem in any of my tanks.
 
Yeah, I might just get a used mag7, that way I don't have to do the plumbing all over again. I should be getting 400gph w/ the mag7. Save the mag9.5 for back up or something.
 
The ball valve works, but didn't want to restrict the pump. The problem is the flow is ~70x the water in the simp. The bubbles don't have time/space to float up to the surface and got suck into the pump.

I wish I rebuild the stand's frame too when I redid the wall. So I can fit in the 55 gal in. *sigh* :(
 
Thats why I built my own stand, and made it much bigger, so I can fit everything I will need right under it.

-Mike C.
 
I guess live and learn, my next tank will be much easier to work with than this one. Want a 8' long tank. :)
 
It's not the amount of flow causing you problems it's the design of your sump.I have a 120 gal tank and run 1200 gal an hour thru my refugium and I have zero air bubbles.700 GPH or less flow in a 125 gal tank is redicolously low.If you want to see what we run 700 GPH of flow thru check out the 75 gal school tank.It only has a refugium with the dimension of 24Lx10Wx12H(roughly about 15 galons).Thats 47x of flow thru the sump itself and the tank looks great,no micro bubbles,no cyano,coraline off the charts,and even the mud on the bottom of the refugium with that kind of flow is intact. The manafacturer recomends 600-800 gal of flow.I know alot of new people in the hobby are recomending slow flow but that advice is not coming from the manafacturer of the refugiums like Ecosystem,CPR,Etc.And IMO that advice is wrong and only leads to a place for cyano to take root.My guess is that if you have microbubbles it's probably due to a poorly designed sump.Generaly because of no baffles,not enough baffles,baffles in wrong spots, etc.If you can't put baffles in your 20 I would buy a new or used sump.Going to a smaller pump when your already undersized is not a good idea.I don't know if you have been to any meetings but keep in mind at the Plumbing 101 discussion given by Herman Jordan he explained that Mag pumps are rated at 0'head.So by the time you add 5 feet of height and 2-3 elbows the flow given on the box will be reduced by 40-50%.
 
Thanks for the info Bull. I was hopeing I don't have to change my pump. I will take some pictures of my set up tomorrow to give a better understanding of it.
 
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