Trouble choosing a return pump.

yes mag drive pumps are made by danner. he meant a danner mag 9.5.

did you intend to setup a high-flow fuge like that? if you put the fuge chamber on the right side and made the middle the return chamber you could T off the drain, put a gate valve to the skimmer chamber and another valve to the fuge chamber. that way you can regulate how much flow goes through the fuge if you want. that is how my 20gal was setup when i bought it pre-made.

edit: also dont forget to calculate your overflow capacity during a power outage. you want the sump to be able to take the volume of water that will be returned to the sump during the outage so you dont risk a flood.

 

I'm not sure what a High flow fuge is for. I'll just have a DSB in there, with some Live rock and Macro algae. I may put non reef safe hitchhikers, but nothing else alive, I don't think.

If I put the return chamber in the middle, wouldn't my fuge have very poor circulation? I'm not concerned about high flow, but I did wanted 3 to 5x circulation there. I'm not sure I understood about the return being in the middle

I've ebayed danner mag drive 9.5 and there's 2 main pumps that come up. One looks Silver colored and the other looks black like normal pumps. Is there a difference? Silver one goes a lot higher than the black one.

Thanks for all the help! I'll try to google about the valves that you mentioned to see if I can get the idea I'm ignorant in this whole thing and trying to learn as I go.

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-articles-how-tos/all-about-sumps-filters-fuges-79852.html

Id recommend reading that. I also would recommend a visit to Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums and you can see the various builds he's done and how the flow was intended.

Lets say you have 800GPH returning from the return pump to the DT. Thats 800GPH through your 'fuge' chamber which is in the middle. You didnt specify any measurements in your rough draft picture so I will assume its a 20gal (24L x 12W x 16H) for sake of explanation. Based on your image it would lead me to believe that the baffles would be ~10" high. Your middle chamber lets say is 16" wide which leaves 4" width for the intake chamber on the left and 4" width for the return chamber on the right. So the refuge chamber is effectively 16x12x10 which is ~8.3gal of water volume. If you had 800GPH of flow through that it would have a 96x turnover. Hence why I said it would be a "HIGH FLOW" fuge. The chaeto would surely be tumbling.

It was recommended to me to use 10% of the total water volume through my fuge per hour. So if you had 70gal of total water volume in the system you'd want 7gal of it moving through the fuge per hour. With a 8gal fuge that would be a ~1x turnover per hour. It gives the macro time to suck out the nitrates.

 

Oh! I see what you're saying now! Well... you're absolutely right. Buying such a big pump would cause too much water flow in there... probably not even the sand would stay put!

Also, your assumption about the tank size is correct. It's a 20 gallon tall with the exact same measures you posted (24Lx12Wx16H), and I suppose I'll have to either do with a smaller fuge, or some ingenious way of setting all my stuff in there, since the skimmers' footprint is 14" x 7".... I definitely did not plan this well enough

I may have to use this tank for a QT tank then, and sell the 10 gallon tank I was going to use for that purpose.

I just started reading the link you put on the top, there's a fuge built there that seems to be my dimensions, but I'll keep reading that thread to make sure. The one thing I thought was of concern, is having that gate valve (which I now understand how it works from the picture) dumping the tank's dirty water in the Fuge area, right? I can definitely put a sock there, but I would like the fuge to be supplied with mechanically filtered and skimmed water for a healthier environment.
Now, if this won't really affect the efficiency of the sump itself, I'm sold and this would be an even easier design. Bubles from the fuge to the return would be a concern as well. Any ideas on that?

bje, I really appreciate all your help, as much as all the help others have provided. +k for you as well. And please, don't give up on me. I will have more questions, I'm sure

- Mag.

 

I used a MJ3000 in my 45 with a 30L sump. Worked perfect. Nice and quiet.

That would not be enough flow to add in an external skimmer later though.

 

Just want an opinion if you're familiar with any of these 2 pumps I'm comparing today. It's for my 20 gallon sump build.


Danner Mag Drive 7 (700 GPH @1 ft, 60W consumption): $71.98 Shipping Included

OR

Rio HyperFlow 12HF (750 GPH @1 ft, 40W consumption): $47.18 Shipping Included


There is a substantial difference in price, but It would be ok if the pump is really worth it.

Do they run quiet, loud, hot and do they clog?

Let me know your experiences or reviews since I'll be ordering one of these today.

Thanks for helping me out!

- Magnus.

 

I had the same issue. I had a 20tall like you to start with and the moment i started to look at anything other than the most basic of skimmers I immediately outgrew its skimmer sections capacity and i upgraded to bigger sump/fuge.

I did the same, even had a 10gal ready for QT heh.

You WANT non-skimmed/non-touched water from your DT to your Fuge. One of many points of the fuge is to trap the detritus waste from your DT and break it down. I have not, in all my research thus far, seen anyone with a pre-filter of any kind to their fuge.

not a problem, we're all in this learning experience together....

Id go with the danner over the rio. When I was doing my pump research a month ago Taam wasnt reviewed too highly. (Taam makes RIO in case you werent aware)

Edit: dont forget to spec out your powerheads for the DT itself to make sure you get the turnover rate you desire in the display for your coral plans

 

bje, what pump did you go with for your setup and what is the tank size you upgraded to after realizing the space issue?
I've been looking into craigslist for 20 long and even 30 gallon tanks.

He, he.... I guess I do want dirty water then LOL

I was also leaning towards danner as well. A Mag Drive 7 @ 3 ft has a 500 GPH rating... would that be enough to add an Automatic top off system and/or a CA Reactor in the future?

The 2 powerheads I have in the DT are Maxi Jets 600 (160 GPH). Once it's all done and money not so tight, I'll buy the flow deflectors for them to have water moving all over the tank. Also have a Koralia 4 (1200 GPH) moving A LOT of water. I may not even need the maxi jets, so I may use them later for a DIY ATO if money stays tight.

- Mag

 

I also have a premade refugium (orca). Could you slow the flow down if you t'd the drain line to enter both the refugium and the skimmer area. This would allow some unfiltered water from the DT to enter the fuge area without being skimmed out. Although I have read that there is no way a skimmer could possible skim out all the stuff from the skimmer area??? I have a quiet one 3000 $36 online petsmart. i will be using on my 55gallon.

Sorry the orca refugium I have is skimmer-fuge-return.

 

I have a 75gal display tank. I was going to go with a 30long. I decided to go with a 40long because a friend of mine was throwing it away. So I cleaned it up, figured out my capacity and spacing, drilled a hole in it for the 1" bulkhead, and capped it off for now till i have the money to buy the return pump I want. I am going with an Iwaki 40RLXT or Panword 100px-x pump as soon as money isnt so tight. For now I have some crappy CA2200 pump as a return pump which has been used for so many things I think the thing is not putting out anywhere near the flow its rated for (850GPH). I got it with the original 20G sump I bought. Ebay special.

I intend to put a 4-way distributor off the outlet of the pump. 1 will feed the return plumbing to a Y that will have two loc-line tubes, 1 will feed a future phosphate/carbon reactor (bulkreefsupply.com dual-chamber reactor), and the remaining two will be for future necessities. im not sure if im going to need one for a chiller yet or not. the other might be used for water changes.

my thread on my sump build: http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/40gal-long-sump-build-80277.html

note: i did not end up going with the drawing i posted initially. but the pictures should do the explaining...

check these out for the Mj600 : Sure Grip Magnetic Power Head Holders Aquarium Algae Cleaning Magnets - Algae Free, LLC

you can mod them to put out more if needed.

as for an ATO, i would do more research on that. you dont need a maxijet pump for automated top off of RO/DI water. however you could use the maxijet for a mixing pump in whatever resevoir you pre-mix your saltwater in.