Garage1217
GET OFF MY LAWN
For those needs, a bb5000 would be PLENTY. The 7000 is overkill IMO. I do not know of any pumps currently produced for aquarium use that are as efficient as the BB series just to note.
Suitable sumbersible return pump
- Thread starter dacaptain78
- Start date
I totally agree that the WB's are really nice and efficient pumps, pretty unbeatable efficiency IMHO. After looking at the head loss curves they appear to be tuned for really high efficiency at the expense of being weaker in the head-loss department. I compared the curves and after a few feet of head they didn't do as well as the Max Flo IMHO. For my use I figured a manifold and 8-10 ft of head due to all the stuff I was running off it. Hooked up to a watt meter it is using 70w even though rated at 100w.
Garage1217
GET OFF MY LAWN
That means your pump is pushing really hard (a lot of head pressure) or is restricted in another way flow wise. The more you restrict flow, you will see your pump decrease in wattage. I have run this sort of test on many pumps and it generally turns out the same. Take off the plumbing and let your pump run wide open, and then check the draw, it should significantly increase.
TACoraled
New member
Using the calculator mentioned above, I come out with 8.9ft of head. With my mag 9.5 that's only 570gph (1.5" plumbing).
A little info about my system for reference (sorry to hijack). I have a 90g DT on one side of wall, with fish room on other side. In fish room I have 40br setup as the sump with another 40br grow out tank above. Return is split for fuge area, grow out tank, and DT. Right now I have line to DT wide open, with Fuge and grow out tank just barely cracked open. The volume of water coming out in the DT is barely acceptable, I'd like more.
With the large head loss, would the water blaster still be a better fit?
A little info about my system for reference (sorry to hijack). I have a 90g DT on one side of wall, with fish room on other side. In fish room I have 40br setup as the sump with another 40br grow out tank above. Return is split for fuge area, grow out tank, and DT. Right now I have line to DT wide open, with Fuge and grow out tank just barely cracked open. The volume of water coming out in the DT is barely acceptable, I'd like more.
With the large head loss, would the water blaster still be a better fit?
Exactly, my point wasn't that I was surprised my Max Flo 1500 was running less than the specs, pumps always use less power the more the headloss goes up until they shut off, just that I was using my 1500 to quite a bit of work and still returned a good amount of water to my tank after running a manifold with multiple reactors and a chiller. My Mag9.5 returned significantly less water to the DT on essentially the same exact set-up and still managed to use nearly the same amount of power. Running a more efficient pump like the Water Blasters might be great for just a simple return but even then a 4 foot head up to the tank is going to impact them much more than the Max Flo. These are just things to take into consideration, efficiency is nice but you really should look at the headloss curve to figure what you need too.
It depends on how much flow you want to return to the tank. At about 9ft headloss the Max Flo is 845GPH and the WB7000 is probably around 700GPH. Honestly 700GPH to the DT is more than a single standard overflow can handle anyway but if you valve back the Max Flo it is only going to use even less power. The WB5000 at around 3m puts out only about 370GPH according to the company flow chart.
The whole reason I brought this up in the first place is after researching the WB5000 vs. the Max Flo 1500 I realized at zero head the WB's looked fantastic but in my application this was a worthless data point because I was going to be pushing nearly 10ft head. The WB's would have been pushed to nearly shutoff and the Max Flo is rated at about 13.5 ft. In my application the MaxFlo outperforms even the WB7000. At zero head the WB500 is about the same gph as the Max Flo and the WB7000 significantly outperforms it. After a couple feet of head both WB's lose quite a bit of flow and the MaxFlo starts to outdo them both. If you can get away with a low head application for the WB5000 it will use significantly less power but it can't handle head as well so as you go over 4-5ft you might be be better off with something else.
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