need a slow return pump

[darkfish]

Hi. I am still trying to design this system of mine and got a question. I have a 90 gal tank on the way and will be running a closed loop system. Besides the closed loop for water movement, I will also have a refugium/sump down bellow. What return pump would be good for the sump. I don't want much movement because the closed loop is for that. I want a slow pump that wont chop up the pods that will be taking their ride up and yet it needs to handle the head.

 

[sickboy]

Are you planning on restricting the overflow? Is it a drilled tank or will you be using an overflow?

 

[darkfish]

Ya it will be drilled and the overflow box will sit inside the tank at the top against a bulkhead.

 

[cdangel0]

Unfortunately no matter what pump you choose some of the pods are not going to survive the ride back up. The only way to ensure zerp pod loss is to put the refugium higher then the DT and gravity feed the return.
With that being said you can always 'T' off the return line and add a ball valve so that you can control the amount of retun flow to the tank. I use a Mag9.5 T'd off so most of the water is returned to my sump and I can have a slow flow through my fuge (2 seperate tanks, fuge is above DT for afore mentioned gravity fed return).
Now sice I also use my fuge as a frag tank, when I have SPS frags I can turn the flow up through the fuge as needed.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Darkfish
http:///forum/post/2894234
I want a slow pump that wont chop up the pods that will be taking their ride up and yet it needs to handle the head.

Actually, the larger the pump the less likely it is to harm the pods. I wouldn't worry too much about the pods being harmed as long as there's no prefilter or screen to trap them.

 

[darkfish]

ok thanks for the replys. I have a quiet one 5000 that I am using for the closed loop. Maybe I will get anouther one of those for the return if you say it is a good idea to go with a bigger pump.

 

[bang guy]

Sounds like a great idea.
Just so you know I'm not talking off the top of my head, I did do a few experiments with this. I used a few different powerheads and 4 different Iwaki pumps.
The powerheads trashed the pods (pods = Amphipods, Isopods, copepods, Artemia nauplii, and adult Artemia). All of the powerheds trashed all of the pods. Survival rate was less than 25% for all of them. Pretty much only the Copepods made it with just a few exceptions.
All of the Iwaki waterpumps did great. The worst was the Iwaki WMD40RLT with about a 90% survival and the Iwaki MD100RLT had a survival rate of almost 100%, just a few adult Artemia perished. In fact, a baby Banggai Cardinalfish was accidently sucked into the 100 and came out fine on the other side.

 

[keith burn]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/2895034
In fact, a baby Banggai Cardinalfish was accidently sucked into the 100 and came out fine on the other side.
O yes he has salt water pond and tanks.
And now i see a saltwater amusement park for his fish aswell dang how am i going to top that

 

[darkfish]

I have been reading these forums for a while so I know who you are and what level of experience you have in fish keeping Bang Guy! I appreciate everyone's help on this. I know what pumps I should be looking at.
Iwaki pumps are sooo much more money compared to the quiet one brand. On the pod survival issue alone, do you think Iwaki would be much better?

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Darkfish
http:///forum/post/2895086
I have been reading these forums for a while so I know who you are and what level of experience you have in fish keeping Bang Guy! I appreciate everyone's help on this. I know what pumps I should be looking at.
Iwaki pumps are sooo much more money compared to the quiet one brand. On the pod survival issue alone, do you think Iwaki would be much better?
Nope. Iwaki are dependable but fairly noisy IMO. I use then to pump water from the basement. If you're only moving water 5' I would get a quieter volume oriented pump.

 

[darkfish]

Ok thanks again.