whats a good return pump?
- Thread starter ozman3803
- Start date
Snowboarda42
New member
I vote Mag drive. The added heat isn't much and who knows, maybe it will put less work on your heaters 
jakano
New member
I have an Iwaki as my return pump and a Reeflow as my closed loop pump and there are big differences in both. The Iwaki pump is very loud due to the fan on the back. So if this pump is going to be in the viewing area I would not use an Iwaki the noise will drive you crazy. That being said the Iwaki is a wonderful pump and it works flawlessly. My Reeflow pump is a Dart and it's really quiet. Although it is starting to make some really strange noises lately. Now I know one pump is a flow pump and one a pressure pump so naturally there are differences but either way you cant go wrong. By the way my Iwaki is in my basement pushing water up to the second floor of my house and I still have to dial it back. Its a run of over 30 feet.
tkeracer619
New member
Re: whats a good return pump?
I run a Sequence Dart and love it. It is going to move some serious water. If your tank is built for the flow then do it.
Is the sump under the tank or in a basement?
I run a Sequence Dart and love it. It is going to move some serious water. If your tank is built for the flow then do it.
Is the sump under the tank or in a basement?
ReefTECK
New member
MagDrive pumps are awesome for internal applications, but if your worried about the heat from a pump, I really like the build of Dolphin pumps. They're made for jacuzzis originally, their aquarium pumps can be found almost at any retailer online, they're beefier than sequence, iwaki, or little giant pumps. Might be a little more spendy though
mcrist
Premium Member
The Japanese models are awesome but they are power hungry. I have an Iwaki MD100RLT that has been running perfectly for over 4 years solid with only one cleaning. My ReefFlow Dart was only a year old and I needed to replace the seal which is common for their pumps. Personally the Iwaki would easily outlive any pump but the power consumption sucks.
what kind of skimmer is on the system? it doesnt matter how big your tank or sump is. The whole concept of efficent skimming includes setting up your system so that all the water that is surface skimmed from the tank and sent to the sump....gets skimmed before being returned to the tank.the goal sending as little unskimmed water back to the tank as possible.
now doing 100% isnt always realistic, but match the return flow to your skimmers processing ability and you are at least trying. all of these recommendations for these honkin pumps makes no sense without knowing what kind of skimmer is sitting in the sump.
Im sure a dart with a ball valve on the output so you could taper it back accordingly would do great and be the quietest choicenow if you were powering a chilleer as well with the return.......that could call for more power....
now doing 100% isnt always realistic, but match the return flow to your skimmers processing ability and you are at least trying. all of these recommendations for these honkin pumps makes no sense without knowing what kind of skimmer is sitting in the sump.
Im sure a dart with a ball valve on the output so you could taper it back accordingly would do great and be the quietest choicenow if you were powering a chilleer as well with the return.......that could call for more power....
