How much flow???

M

mm2meyer

Reefing newb
Hey I'm lookin for a return pump for the tank I'm building. If you don't know it's a 180 gallon with a 20 gal fuge and a 40 gal sump. What ball park area of gph do I need for my return pump??? I'm trying to do this on a bit of a budget so uber expensive isn't an option but I'm not looking for garbage gear either. I've seeen pond pumps at a local harware store would those work?? Heard mixed feelings about using those
 
i first question is do you have duel outlets for water or only one? and what size of pipe is it 1in, 1 1\2 in, 2in ?
 
You want 10x turnover through your sump each hour. So assuming that your return is feeding both your sump and fuge, you'll need to target +/- 600 gph. You can use a pond pump or anything really, just need to make sure that you account for the flow loss due to height. The higher it has to pump, the less gph you get. most pumps give you a scale of their rating. You should buy a little bigger than you need and you can always restrict flow with a ball valve if you need, but it's better to have too much than not enough and most pumps are rated based on perfect conditions and your tank will not be "perfect conditions" as soon as you start getting detritus and algae. A lot of us use Quiet Ones pumps cause they are cheap and reliable. Also realize that you need +/- 30x turnover in your tank every hour, so if your return pump is rated at 600gph then your 180 will be sitting at 3.3x per hour. Obviously not enough. You'll want to get yourself some powerheads to get the increased flow you need. you target gph in your display should be +/- 5400 gph.
 
it's dual corner overflows. and I believe the pipe is 1 inch. And I will be using powerheads. I was advised that four koralia K4's would be pretty good. But I am always up for suggestions since I haven't even put the tank on the stand yet. So definately able to take suggestions.
 
ok as for pumps your tank can handel 1200 gallons per hour for your over flows. if it were me i would get a pump rated for 1200 or a little more just for the fact thet it has to split for the return's and the head pressure the gph of the pump will drop alot in most cases
 
on my 75 i use a riohf 17 and it does great check out panworld pumps or the rio hyperflows and even mag pumps they are all great pumps i may change to a panworld pump since it is external.
 
 
ok sweet. now my next question is how do I determine how much head I have for the tank to get right size pump?? Oh and those panworld pumps are friggin expensive!
 
you measure how much line or pipe ther will be from the pump to were it exits at the tank. and yes the panworld pumps are expemsive but are a very good quality pump
 
does that include horizontal and vertical line or just vertical. Also would I have to include BOTH returns I.E. two feet of head for two returns equals 4 feet of head or just two?? Want to buy the right thing once and not make a million trips cuz I was a dummy
 
every inch of pipe, every bend in the pipe, and any other restrictions you place like loclines are all going to add to the pressure. The only way you could be sure would be to build it, then attach a pump and take a measurement. Obviously not going to happen. That's why I said a while back to buy more than you need. If you over build it a bit based on the ratings, you are likely to end up with a system that actually works where you want it to be even though the numbers on the box say it could perform higher than it actually does.
 

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