Return pump suggestions

[badbones]

I am planning a 450ish inwall and am looking for a reliable and pretty much maintenance free with low power consumption. This is going to be for the sump return and possibly I have read good things about the red devil pumps, but they are just too pricey. I was going to go with the sequence Dart or barracuda, but just saw the Tunze Master electronic 1073.160 that uses 230wt's.

Has anyone used the Tunze?? It looks pretty nice and their quality is always top notch. Its double the sequence price, but uses about an amp less which should pay back itself with the high cost of electricity.

Thanks
Tony

 

[skriz]

Haven't used the Tunze, but I do use the sequence hammerhead. It runs cool and is very powerful. the best thing..QUIET! I was really really impressed. I use it in the living room, so this was a huge concern for me.

Also, the 3 year warranty doesnt hurt!

 

[nyvp]

do you have a closed loop? I would go with the dart and and a couple of tunze for flow

 

[badbones]

I have nothing....Yet...

What I am thinking of doing is 2 waveboxes and 2 streams for internal circulation.

I am really thinking of the Tunze return pump. Its costly, but the energy savings is there in the long run. This will return to 2 1" seaswirls. I then plan on having a small return to another 1" seaswirl. The reason for this is redundency and to have the smaller on a UPS for power failure as well. That way there is still circulation. Sounds cool in theory huh.

My ultimate goal is to have a very low energy consuption tank. Even though I plan on using 400 SE HQI, I will use only 3 over the 8' tank and they will be on a light mover. Again in theory this sounds good!!

 

[vishboy]

Wouldn't the Tunze stream on a UPS be better?

 

[badbones]

I actually am going to have a very large sump that will have a built in refuge so thats why I want the flow through the sump

 

[Adrianto29]

I use Tunze master electronic pumps. One is 14,000 lph for main return and one is 9,000 lph for close circulation.

The performance are top notch. It's super silent and the power consumption is less than Baracuda.

 

[badbones]

Adrianto29

I have no info on the pumps and maybe you can answer a couple questions. I will have my main tank and a frag system. Each will use the same pump manufacturer whether Tunze or sequence. Both pumps will not be the same size. So what I want is to have a third pump as a backup in case either pump fails and it can be quickly and easily swapped.

My question is since you own 2, are the footprints the same as I would like to do?

Second, since these are electric, can their speed be adjusted for less flow instead of using a ball valve to control?

Thanks
Tony

 

[Adrianto29]

At this moment, I only use Tunze pumps for my tank.
Both 9,000 lph and 14,000 lph have exactly the same size.

Baracuda have slightly different size with Tunze, but both have same inlet/outlet. So it can be interchangeable as long as you use flexible PVC.

On Tunze, speed can not be adjusted electronically. You have to use ball valve to adjust.

 

[vishboy]

For the second return, how many gph are you looking for?

 

[seaguy7]

I tried a 9000 lph tunze. It was so loud I couldn't put up with it. This was a apparently a problem in the US (I bought mine about 3 months) and may have been solved. Check out the Tunze Vendor forum. They acknowledged the problem at the time. I ended up springing for the Red Devil and it is amazingly quiet. I use a Barracuda for my closed loop and it is also quiet but not like the Red Devil.


-Greg

 

[ChemE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7584660#post7584660 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badbones
...My ultimate goal is to have a very low energy consuption tank.

If you are serious about this goal I would recommend that you limit yourself to 1.0 to 1.5 tank volumes per hour through your skimmer/sump loop. At the typical 4' of head, you could use a Blueline NS-800 to get...

around 700 gph or about 1.5 tank volumes per hour. The Blueline NS-800 draws 40 watts max and goes for about $116 here.
http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=18060&js=n

That will save you 210 watts 24/7 or 153 kWh/month which here is FL at FPL rates is a savings of $15.30/month.

 

[ChemE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7585310#post7585310 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badbones
I actually am going to have a very large sump that will have a built in refuge so thats why I want the flow through the sump

I'm getting high flow through my built in fuge with a DIY Maxi-Stream 600 which draws a whole 6 watts. This keeps my chaeto tumbling very nicely and allows me to use a MJ1200 for my return pump. This gets me to 2.0 tank volumes per hour which is plently to keep my skimmer chugging along and my chaeto growing and happy. I use another DIY Maxi-Stream 600 in my display and that is as much flow as my tank can handle. All told, my water movement consumes 25 watts!