What GPH Pump should I use?

[jeffmuse]

I am gathering up equipment for my tank upgrade and wanted everyone's feedback on the size pump that I should buy for my setup. My new system is a 125 gallon, and I plan on having a manifold off the return line that will feed into a calcium reactor, GFO reactor, and UV sterilizer.

I was thinking like a Blueline 55 (1100 Gph/28 head) or a Blueline 70 (1750 Gph/ 39ft head).

I will go ahead and throw this out there too... I am not sure what the overflows are rated for, but I have two overflows on this tank that use 1 inch pvc.

All feedback welcome

 

[crewdawg1981]

Your overflows prolly handle ~600 GPH each. So you don't want to try sending more than that up to your tank.

As for your pump, is it going to be in the stand under the tank or remote? If remote, how much head pressure are you thinking you will have?

 

[jeffmuse]

Crewdawg1981;653135 wrote: Your overflows prolly handle ~600 GPH each. So you don't want to try sending more than that up to your tank.

As for your pump, is it going to be in the stand under the tank or remote? If remote, how much head pressure are you thinking you will have?

Good call on the overflows... lets assume that the tank can handle 1200 GPH.

The pump/ sump is under the tank, so the head pressure does not need to be over the top.

 

[grouper therapy]

I Would consider something besides those pressure rated pumps. Take a look at the high flow/low head pumps of the same brand. Quieter and much lower electrical cost.
Maybe even a dart/snapper you can dial them way back and only use what you need.

 

[morganatlanta]

If your tank is a standard AGA 125 with the megaflow overflows like mine, you don't need more than a Mag12. I had to dial back my Mag12 a bit with a ball valve because it was too strong and almost overflowed the tank, so I can attest to the overflows handling around 600 GPH each.

Don't over do the flow because you are putting some flow through the GFO and UV. What would happen if you took them offline? I think you should still assume that all the flow will go to the tank, even if only be accident.

 

[grouper therapy]

If your tank is a standard AGA 125 with the megaflow overflows like mine, you don't need more than a Mag12. I had to dial back my Mag12 a bit with a ball valve because it was too strong and almost overflowed the tank, so I can attest to the overflows handling around 600 GPH each.

Don't over do the flow because you are putting some flow through the GFO and UV. What would happen if you took them offline? I think you should still assume that all the flow will go to the tank, even if only be accident.[/quote]
I disagree. It hurts nothing to dial the pump back, it actually can improve efficiency and performance.

 

[morganatlanta]

I'm not saying don't dial the pump back. Dialing back the flow before the manifold is not a problem. It allows you to tune the overall flow, which will likely change over time as pumps age, pipes get dirty, etc. You should probably put a valve to do that anyway, even if you do end up running it wide open.

My point was that if you are running with more than 1200 GPH normally coming from your main pump because you normally are sending a few hundred GPH through your GFO and UV, then you take the GFO and/or UV offline to clean it or something, unless you plumb a shunt to put that flow back to the sump, ***and remember to use it***, that extra flow will go to the main tank, your drains won't be able to handle it, and you'll have a mess.

If you normally just send 900 GPH through the main returns, and 300 GPH through the GFO and UV, you won't overflow your tank by taking the GFO and UV offline.

 

[gmpolan]

Also, as ive noticed and alot of other people have mentioned when you run the gfo and carbon off a manifold and turn the pump off and turn it back on, it tends to send a large burst of water through them which causes alot of particles to get flushed into your sump, DT, etc....and i have a 150 with a 25 gal frag, uv and i run the blueline 55 HD.

 

[grouper therapy]

MorganAtlanta;653235 wrote: I'm not saying don't dial the pump back. Dialing back the flow before the manifold is not a problem. It allows you to tune the overall flow, which will likely change over time as pumps age, pipes get dirty, etc. You should probably put a valve to do that anyway, even if you do end up running it wide open.

My point was that if you are running with more than 1200 GPH normally coming from your main pump because you normally are sending a few hundred GPH through your GFO and UV, then you take the GFO and/or UV offline to clean it or something, unless you plumb a shunt to put that flow back to the sump, ***and remember to use it***, that extra flow will go to the main tank, your drains won't be able to handle it, and you'll have a mess.

If you normally just send 900 GPH through the main returns, and 300 GPH through the GFO and UV, you won't overflow your tank by taking the GFO and UV offline.

Just t off to the manifold before the Ball valve to the the tank and then it doesn't matter. The ball valve to control the return line can be after everything then it will not matter what is taken offline.

 

[crewdawg1981]

gmpolan;653240 wrote: Also, as ive noticed and alot of other people have mentioned when you run the gfo and carbon off a manifold and turn the pump off and turn it back on, it tends to send a large burst of water through them which causes alot of particles to get flushed into your sump, DT, etc....and i have a 150 with a 25 gal frag, uv and i run the blueline 55 HD.

Aaannnnd this is why I have a separate manifold pump.

Energy efficient... No (well not as much as using the spare capacity in my return would be), but I think its better... I think.

 

[jeffmuse]

grouper therapy;653252 wrote: Just t off to the manifold before the Ball valve to the the tank and then it doesn't matter. The ball valve to control the return line can be after everything then it will not matter what is taken offline.

Cool, so just plumb the manifold to the return line and put a ball valve after the manifold to control flow into the tank.

Edit:

grouper therapy;653201 wrote: I Would consider something besides those pressure rated pumps. Take a look at the high flow/low head pumps of the same brand. Quieter and much lower electrical cost.
Maybe even a dart/snapper you can dial them way back and only use what you need.

Do you think something like a Blueline 40 H-x would work better? That's 1270 cpu with 13 ft head pressure?

 

[morganatlanta]

JeffMuse;653443 wrote: Cool, so just plumb the manifold to the return line and put a ball valve after the manifold to control flow into the tank.

But what happens if you take the reactor and/or UV offline and forget to adjust the ball valve to the tank? I would think could significantly increase your flow to the tank, and not notice until you have water on the floor.

If you have several power heads in the display tank, then they will make up the vast majority of the flow in the display, and I don't see a good reason to push the limits of your overflows for a few hundred more GPH.

That said, if I was setting up a new tank, I'd go with Herbie drains like LivingRoomOcean has. Herbie drains use all four holes in the standard AGA 125 for drains, and bring the returns up over the back. Herbie drains have the advantages of being perfectly silent, and having backup drains to avoid flooding.

 

[crewdawg1981]

Yup.

Edit:

MorganAtlanta;653450 wrote: But what happens if you take the reactor and/or UV offline and forget to adjust the ball valve to the tank? I would think could significantly increase your flow to the tank, and not notice until you have water on the floor.

If the ball valve is after the manifold, then no more water will be sent to the display than before. And as Dave mentioned above, this will actually work well with the Reeflo pumps that use less energy when valved back.

 

[rbredding]

+1 on Reeflo pumps.. they ROCK... the DART will handle anything you throw at it and it's a REALLY quiet pump.. (and more efficient than the blue line pumps you were talking about earlier)

 

[grouper therapy]

MorganAtlanta;653450 wrote: But what happens if you take the reactor and/or UV offline and forget to adjust the ball valve to the tank? I would think could significantly increase your flow to the tank, and not notice until you have water on the floor.

If you have several power heads in the display tank, then they will make up the vast majority of the flow in the display, and I don't see a good reason to push the limits of your overflows for a few hundred more GPH.

That said, if I was setting up a new tank, I'd go with Herbie drains like LivingRoomOcean has. Herbie drains use all four holes in the standard AGA 125 for drains, and bring the returns up over the back. Herbie drains have the advantages of being perfectly silent, and having backup drains to avoid flooding.

I don't think your seeing it.
The ball valve is the last thing before it hits the tank. It doesn't matter how much you take offline because it is all going through that valve already.

Edit:

JeffMuse;653443 wrote: Cool, so just plumb the manifold to the return line and put a ball valve after the manifold to control flow into the tank.

Edit:

Do you think something like a Blueline 40 H-x would work better? That's 1270 cpu with 13 ft head pressure?

Less watts, probably closer to what I would run.

Edit:

Cool, so just plumb the manifold to the return line and put a ball valve after the manifold to control flow into the tank.

Exactly then it doesn't matter what happens in the manifold since all the flow is restricted anyway.

 

[jhutto]

what would you run on a 210 to make it silent? My PW 150 PS has slowed down when I added the supplemental devices on the mainfold, ie. Calcium reactor, carbon, and biopellet reactors along with going though the chiller.
Joe