return pump for 180g-200g

[gusmanda]

what return pump do you use for your 180-200g tank? Any recomendations?

 

[xinumaster]

I would suggest a sequence reflo dart model.

 

[96p993]

It depends on where you are wanting to get most of your flow from....If you want to just get the water back from your sump to your tank and let a closed loop, tunze, etc do the rest then I wouldnt do more then 1000 gph after headloss...pretty much 3-5 times the size of your tank..

 

[gusmanda]

basically, I want to use the least amount of watts possible, so whether I use the return pump for both return and circulation, or a separate return and circulation pump, it's the same. Suggestions very welcome. I'm keeping LPS and softies only, by the way.

 

[rigleautomotive]

blue line 40 hdx or iwalki 40 rlxt.long lasting,bulletproof,lots of flow for the watts used.no heat transfer or very minimal i should say

 

[gusmanda]

found the iwaki on reefgeek, where can I find the blue line?
rigleautomotive, which one do you use for your SPS tank?

 

[rigleautomotive]

i use all blue line pumps,they are made by the former engineer from iwalki and sell for half the price.quality is same or better.champion lighting is where i get blue line pumps from.i have 5 total running now and some for 5 years without breakdown.

 

[gusmanda]

what about sedra and little giant pumps?

 

[rigleautomotive]

i am not sure about sedra,little giant external pumps are good,noisier than blue line and a bit more power hungry for the same gph i believe.but it will work fine .imo

 

[tedu]

Also take a look at an Eheim 1262, will be using one or two of those for return on my 270.

 

[frazier]

I'm useing a sequence reflo snapper for main pump and a hammerhead for CL on my 180g....overkill on the CL but what the hell...lol

 

[uztaryn]

I have 2 little giants.... they are louder than my sequence Hammerheads. Depending on what kind of vertical lift you need I would look at a Dart and you could prob run your skimmer, media reactor, uv, ozone, circulation all off one pump. If you need more head you can get a Hammerhead for about 300 and you could run all those items and still lift up from a basement, run circulation, and bleed off into a sump with in sump circ.

I really like the Sequence stuff...

 

[viggen]

if you need the flow the sequence dart or snapper are hard to beat! MUCH quieter then a comparable iwaki & blueline

rescently installed a hammerhead & a iwaki 100. The hammerhead is pretty much silent which the iwaki could be heard 20ft away

little giant pumps I would skip, noisy & powerhungry.

This is how I see it

When Iwaki came out with their pumps it made little giant seem outdated. Then blueline released their pumps which offer similar quality to the iwaki's just for less money. Now you have the reeflo series from sequence which makes the above pumps outdates!

My 90g & 260g use a velocity T4. Silent & give me around 1000 gph of flow

 

[gusmanda]

was just looking at the sequence reflo specs, those seem kind of overkill

 

[benf]

Will you be hooking up other equipment to it or will it be returns only? I have a Sequence Hammerhead for my 200, but will be running a 1/3hp chiller in another room and has to feed the UV and Refuge as well. They will be flowing in Parallel not series, so in this case it paid to have the more flow.

Keep in mind with Sequence pumps, you can valve them down without harming the motors...so for the xtra few bucks you might wish you had a good pump.

 

[gusmanda]

is it possible to hook up the skimmer to the same pump?

 

[viggen]

I would think the snapper would be OK which I beleive flow 1700-2K ish at 5-6ft head.

If you do not want that much flow & want something quiet get a velocity T4. Totally silent & will flow around 1000 gph.

Some claim they dump heat into the tank & on a tank of your size I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[saltyESQ]

I have a 210g and the eheim's gph are just too low. I went with an ocean runner 6500 and it works great! no noice and good return.

 

[twon8]

i have a 180 and use an ocean runner 3500 and it is more than enough turnover.

 

[benf]

I would not run a skimmer off any of these pumps unless you plan to valve it way way down! Chiller, UV, Refuge, and Returns yes, but skimmer...only if i had too and like i said...valve it way down!