return pump for a 180 FOWLR?

Monkeyfish

Monkeyfish

Active member
What would you guys recommend for a budget conscious return pump for a 180g FOWLR? The tank is an AGA with 2 1" drains and 2 3/4" returns. The sump (75 gallon) will be sectioned for a protein skimmer, refugium and return. I was considering the mag 18. Someone suggested the Eheim 1262, but with head loss and "plumbing drag" it seems awfully weak to me. Additional flow will be from 2-3 Tunze 6025s.

Opinions and experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric
 
Hi Eric

I ran a Mag 1800 on an AGA reef ready 120 for 3 years. I upgraded to Mag 2400 and it moved sand, had to valve it down. In my opinion the 1800 or 2400 will move plenty of water.

Andy
 
md14fish and Andy - do you run a chiller? Were there any heat problems with the mag?

I have a mag 18 and a Little Giant which isn't quite a powerful (with head loss it'll push about 100gph less). Not sure which one to go with or if it's necessary to have the sump drilled to place the return pump externally.

Thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming guys.
 
Eric
I never ran a chiller but had 1200watts of light that needed 2 fans running 24/7. I really thing in a tank that size the pump heat would not be a problem. The 120 is now set up as F/W planted tank and the return is mag 9 and I need to run a couple of heaters. I feef most of my heat came from the halides
 
Lot's of heat IMO with all submersibles ( luv ya Andy :) )

With only 3/4" returns and 1" drains I would recommend that you drill the sump for an external magnetic pump such as an Iwaki 30 or 40.

I have an Iwaki 20 running on a 90g that only has one small return hence the small Iwaki, that has been running 24/7 trouble free for the last 11 years.
 
AGA 180 RR with dual overflows (not in the corners the other one ;) ).

The sump is going to be custom - 75g AGA; 1/4 inch glass baffles. Thinking about using plexi for the baffles, but have heard about problems with using silicone on plexi-glass .
 
i have done silicone with plexi on glass many times....no problems...and think about the overflows in that 180...plastic on glass....i wouldn't build an acrylic/glass TANK...but i would say it certainly holds strong enough for a sump.

you have to take into account what the overflows will be able to handle. i don't know what durso's are rated at..but take that and multiply it by two and that is your max flow from your return. I have had a mag 12 on a 55 aga rr w/ one overflow..and i would say it was handling about 1,000gph...this is my experience, others might have had different...HTH
 
Groovy. Think I'll try to cut my own baffles out of plexi. Any suggestions as to what tool is the best to use? I've tried to "score and snap" and have had difficulty getting clean breaks.
 
I just used a cheap Ryobi table saw with th estock multipurpose blade, i believe if you use a finer tooth blade you will get much cleaner cuts. What worked for me was to feed it slowly so it does no overheat or chip too much.
 
i used to use the saw but found that to be a pita. I got that tool for the score and snap...i found that if i used the corner of it instead of the blade side, i could get it to work very clean with only about 3-4 passes....let me know if you want a better explanation
 
I was just using a box cutter/utility blade. Maybe that was the problem. I didn't know there was a specific tool for "scoring." Gonna stop by HD tonight and see if I can pick one up. Especially since I don't own a table saw and the wife isn't going to let me buy one to cut some baffles!
 
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