noob questions

Is a mag nine to powerfull for a 36 gallon? would it hurt to vavle it down?
and what color do most reefers paint the back of ther tanks?

 

no clue bout the Mags, but some times black, (like mine) or like most, any variation of blue. try to keep in mind the tyoe of lights your gonna get or already have. if your running a 20k which is a deep blue, go with somthing a tad lighter, or if your running 12k a nice light blue would look good too. but for me, i paint mine black to match my overflow.

 

The size of your sump will help determine the actual flow rate you want, but it will not hurt anything to trim it with a valve.

 

Mag 9 is way too big for a 36 for my 40 breeder im using a mag 5 and am wondering if thats too much.

 

a mag 9.5 at 5foot of head is rated to run at 750 gph
a mag 5 at 5 foot of head is rated to run at 250 gph
and a mag 3 is rated at 220 at 5 foot of head.

 

Not necessarily...
It depends on what kinda flow you want. Will you run power-heads as well? I have a non- filtered nano reef (keep the nutrients down with water changes alone and carbon ones a month for 3 or 4 days) that is 20 gallons (16x16x23) and I run one 750gph hydor in there. "People" would say I only needed 450gph.. but I like more flow. Keeps things cleaner especially when you have filtration cause the more flow the longer stuff stays in the water column and can get skimmed and/or filtered out.

I vote for black for the back. It takes away from the reef look the least IMO. ;D

Heidi

 

Most people use mags for a return or closed loop. As a return I think its moving water way too fast from the sump. The skimmer needs some time to pull stuff out of the water. A return pump really isnt meant for flow in my opinion. Power heads are added for flow. Maybe Im wrong though.

 

The mag depends on what you are using it for. If you have a sump and are going to use it for your return pump, then you want to try to match the flow of your overflow. For example I have an overflow rated for 300gph. My return pump is rated for around 325gph at 4' head. I throttle the pump back a little bit to match what my overflow is running, but it is not very much. IMO there is no point in having a high flow rate when I have to throttle it way back to be able to use it.

As for the background, I prefer black because it also matches my overflow box.

A little more info on your setup(sump/no sump, type of overflow, etc..) would allow us to help you more with the pump questions.

 

The only negative in using the Mag-9 that is stopped down with a valve is that you use more power than an appropriately sized pump.

 

I have a mag 9 for return 29 gal sump , and my over flow box is from gl*******s.com its rated for 1500 gpg . I was told i would have to much flow and it is not healthy for corals , this is my 1st reef I allways did marine fish, my skimmer is a mtc hsa 250 its a moster too . i had all this from my 180 gallon which is gone i dont have the room for a large tank in my apartment.
I want to have 4 returns 2, pointing fwd and 2 to the side or down to get behind rock. these will be hooked up to SCWD Wavemaker. If i have to i will either return the mag nine for a 7 or a 5 and get 2 small magnetic power heads for sides. I am building a stand Tank will be about 5 ft off the ground ,what king of paint should I use for stand?