mag drives! 7, 9.5 or more?

Man, I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I keep getting diff info. Just talked to tech guy at Dr.s Foster/Smith and he's recommending I get a mag 12! I'm planning on eshopps pf-800 overflow box and estimating there'll be at least a 4 ft return. I'd thought a mag 7 would be enough, but he's telling me to go higher than the anticipated overflow. :/ Man, almost have this thing squared away...

Also, I found Home Depot sells pre-cut glass pieces. I forgot to see how thick they are, but I'm thinking this will be an easy way for baffles..?

thank you for any tips!

 

Your overflow needs to have more gph than your pump or you will have to cut your pump flow back.Try to match your pump gph with the gph of the overflow your getting.
You can use the pre-cut glass for baffles or you can use the acrylic pieces. I bought a sheet of acrylic at Home Depot and cut my baffles. Silicone doesn't stick to acrylic to good but it works for baffles, I just put a good silicone bead on both sides, and make sure you get 100% silicone,they have it at HD in the big tubes to put in a caulking gun.

 

Theres nothing wrong with getting a bigger pump, just make sure you install a ball valve after the pump to control the flow if needed. I have a mag-18 on my 90g and it works great.


Luna

 

Hello,

I am not familiar with your current set up so its sort of difficult to have an opinion here. A Mag Supreme 12 will turn 1200 GPH, but you need to explain the set up in order to calculate your head pressure.

The PF800 will drop 800 GPH, as already said you need to match your GPH in so not to exceed your potential GPH out. The Mag 12 Head pressure is key, its not out of the question that you will only get 800 GPH from it.

To be safe you should plan on installing a ball valve as already suggested on this thread. A Mag12 (all the mags btw) are very reliable and you will not damage them by chocking the flow with a valve.

 

Mag pumps are pretty reliable, but there are 2 major drawbacks to them

1. they are a PITA to clean out as you have to unscrew all the housing, and 2, they use a lot more electricity than other more efficient brands.


I have a 90g, with the sump in my stand so like 3 maybe 4 feet total height , and I had a mag9 running my scwd return and I had my recirc skimmer fed from it as well. It seized after only a couple years use, and now I use a quiet one 3000. It has less gph (780 gph IIRC) but it flows better, plumbed the same as the mag 9 that made 950 gph. The housing on the mag pump went, and even 2 different new impellers would not get it to re start. The housing would throw the GCFI, so the pump itself is shot somehow. My electrical engineer friend checked it out for em and said its toast.

If I were you, I would get the quiet one 3000 on sale for about half what the mag9 alone runs and run that. It will save you money as well every month come electric bill time.

 

I have a MAG 18 and it is way to much.....If you want one like it I am going to list it for trade here in the trading section....My tank is a 55 gallon....so I need something that will work with an overflow for this size tank....
Danny

 

Horkn

thank you for the info, but I'm a little confused. Will need a return at least 4ft. Overflow box at 800gph. I found a chart for Quiet One and it says 'unrestricted'? There's no head height max for the quiet one pumps? That's not what I mean...I mean gph at certain heights... If the quiet one 3000's return is 780 at 4ft then that's the ticket!

 

pump sizing.

When selecting pumps you are correct to make sure you look at the GPH at the height you need. The Quiet One 3000 will only give you about 400 GPH at 4ft. The Quiet One 4000 will give you 780 (which is more of what you are looking for). Compare this to the Danner Supreme MAG 9.5 which is rated at 800 GPH at 4 ft. both run at about $100.

I would always put a 'release' valve in your return so you can reduce your return flow as required. Otherwise a pump that pushes more water than the overflow (drain) can deliver will quickly drain your sump. This valve offers a short term fix if your drain system (overflow) builds up some algae and reduces flow.

I think each MFG has it value and is mostly a personal preference. The Danner (mag drive) pumps are more robust and built with better quality. However they do have 4 screws that need to be removed to clean the impeller and chamber.

 

You really do need to look at the manufacturer's claim of what it flows at a certain amount of head. i can speak from experience that a mg9.5 does not flow as much as the quiet one 3000 I have even with the same exact plumbing minus the reducer that the mag9 needs since it is 3/4' MPT and the quiet one is 1" mpt. IMHO, I think that is a big issue since the restriction comes right at the pump on a mag9. Granted I have a scwd in my return line, and that is known to reduce the gph even in a sump in stand setup like mine to around 500gph.

My tank is an AGA reef ready 90g, and the megaflow overflow is stated to rate at 600gph. I if I shut off the skimmer feed from my quiet one for skimmer cleaning, the megaflow starts to make a lot of gurgling noises, and thatmeans to me that it is close to maxxing out its flow. When i had the mag9 on the same setup, I never got gurgling noises when I shut off the skimmer feed.

There are like 6 screws on a mag9.5, and IME, they are not as well made for SW as other pumps such as quiet ones (which if you get too big of a QO are not that quiet), eheims and now the new maxijet pumps. The danner mag drive pumps were simply pond pumps that happened to work, despite not being 100% reef safe. Those 6 screws are always rusting a little on all mag drive pumps I have seen used on SW tanks.

The mag pumps work pretty well, and maybe I got one that was not that great since the whole thing is junk becasue the housing is shot, but they use too much electricity to be efficient and heat the water up as well becasue of that. More watts used, equals more heat in the tank, just like a heater.

While you overflow can do 800gph, IME, I think that you should get more water turnover with a closed loop or powerheads of some sort. the 780gph of the QO3000 is presumably at the pump with zero head. You might want a QO4000 at under 60 dollars from DFS now, but the 3000 works very well even on my scwd restricted return, with a skimmer feed.