Return pump for a 120g

[Markarian421]

We're getting a 120g Oceanic Tech series tank. It will have a 50 gallon (36" x 18" footprint) tank for a sump, it will run a little over half full with around 26 or so gallons in it.

I'm trying to decide between a magdrive 12 and 18 for the return. When I use the flow calculator the 18 is well under 1000gph, and the 12 is looking like it's only around 700 gph. What do most people use? Is anyone using the 18? I'm hoping to avoid adding a lot of extra pumps in the tank for circulation.

As a point of reference, we have a 54g corner tank now and I'm running a magdrive 9.5 for the return mostly because it's about the only pump that fits in the sump. It's throttled back slightly with a valve -- the valve is wide open but enough of a constriction to slow the flow -- and I don't really need anything else to provide flow in the tank.

 

[arctictwist]

are you doin a fowl or is it going to be a reef? you should have plenty more flow than your return can provide if its a reef. Im going to be using a mag 18 but it will split off to my frag tank as well. im hoping its enough. otherwise im going to have to get another pump to supply the frag! Ive got one MP40W for flow in the tank, but hope to get one more in the near future.

 

[JDL]

i just setup the exact setup and am using an eheim 1262. Click red house for build thread.

 

[Markarian421]

I have it set up with a 12 now -- looking at the flow rate calculator here it didn't look like I was going to get a lot more out of the 18, the plumbing looks like it's a limiting factor. The flow doesn't look very high, sand on the bottom isn't disturbed . . . but there's not much in the tank yet (50 lbs of live rock) so it's hard to draw final conclusions. For now I'm just using additional pumps to get more circulation.

The tank's going to be cycling for a few more weeks, when I move everything over from our old tank I'm thinking about switching to using two pumps, the 9.5 from the old tank plus a second 9.5. Has anyone tried that?

 

[Joe]

Eheim 1260 is plenty of flow for the sump on a 120 gallon.

Joe

 

[mark728]

Hi I have a mag 18 on my 120 and I have a valve on it I leave it wide open and its perfect ,I also have 2 vortech on almost full power during the day and 2 Hydor Koralia #3 all my sps love the flow the more flow the better my colors are .

 

[Indymann99]

Im sure others have different opinions BUT here is mine...

Your sump return is NOT a good way to have FLOW in your DT.

I feel like the filtration in the sump needs CONTACT TIME to effectivly work on the water. The skimmer needs to be able to process the water (what is your skimmer pump rated at - gph) And how is your sump setup? I run a skimmer -> fuge -> return and if I would run a high return GPH my fuge would be pretty useless. My return is a Mag 9.5 throttled to about 400 gph (after head) matching my drain (Herbie silent design).

My tank is a 120g and sump is a 45g

I have augmented the return flow with (2) K4s and (1) K3 - got from a friend.

others have different opinions so just my 0.02

 

[arctictwist]

I agree, u should not rely on return pumps for flow. You should have a closed loop or powerheads. Sure u need slower flow, but if u set it up so that its skimmer/return/fuge and supply the fuge either from the drain or the return with a valve so that its slow and the rest either goes to the tank (if off the return) or goes to the sump (if off the drain) I'm running an entirely different fuge from my sump so I'm going off the return and that will flow back to the return section.I will be using a mag 18, I have one mp40w for flow, but hope to add another soon!

 

[Zoom]

I use a Iwaki 20rlt for a return on my 200g tank with a 50G sump a Deltec AP902 is feed by a Mag3 about 1 tank turn over a hour .
for tank circulation 4 tunzes streams 6100.
I never like to have any more return water to the tank than the skimmer can process to much electricity and many many Bubbles in the tank with a larger pump.
A 350 Gallon and hour return pump is more than enough for a 120 gallon tank.

 

[fishaholic911]

I use a mag 9.5 on my 125

 

[raynist]

My opinion is that having a large return pump is a waste of electricity. In my 120 SPS tank I use an aquaclear 70 as my return. It draws 20w of power and probably pushes 200 gph after head loss. I think this give my skimmer more time to clean the water. There are many efficient ways to move water within the display tank so I use these instead of a big pump.