Return for a 180g

[Dubin]

I have a 180g tank that I just finished building a new sump for and I'm going to run an external pump. My tank has the standard 2 1" drains and 2 3/4" returns. What would be a good pump, and should I use bigger plumbing?

 

[BigJay]

Are you looking for an internal or external pump?

For external I would go with a Reeflo dart or snapper.

For internal I would use a pair of big eheims (1262?) one for each overflow.

 

[Dubin]

I'm going to use an external pump, and I was looking at the snapper. Is that a good pump? I believe it has a 2" inlet and 1.5" outlet, should I use plumbing to fit, or go up a size?

 

[Dubin]

Actually on Marinedepot the Snapper and the Dart are the same price, I don't know if they're cheaper anywhere else. Could my overflows handle that turnover, or would it the flow need to be tuned down with something like a ball valve?

 

[BigJay]

You can certainly turn the flow down if you want, I do.

I went with the dart because I plumbed it into a manifold to supply additional flow to my reactors (carbon, GFO, and calcium).