pump size right or wrong?

[mad reefer]

I have a 150 reef with 230lb of lr with a w/d
9feet below the tank. the spray bar is ran 2-3" off the bottom of the tank so that makes it like 12ft of head preasure. my overflow is a 1" line and my return line is 3/4 strait down to the pump. the pump is a mag 1200 gph is this pump to small and should I bring up my spray bar to surface? also my tank is 4 feet long but very high and deep.
just got the whole thing 4mts ago so hate to change anything do to the fact my wife already thinks im crazy$$$$ OH WELL NOW!

 

[thereefman52]

im really not sure, seems like you have a LOT of feet of tubing for that pump, but if it is comming out enought throught the spray bar, its fine. Because if you get a stronger pump, a spray bar cannot be putting out much more water. Yesterday i built my own 3 1/2 foot spray bar from my Wet/dry overflow. I have it on the surface of the water, and it seems to be the best thing i ever did. It breaks the water surface to do a good job in dissolved oxygen in the water, and it actually puts a slight current in the water. (me also building it myself makes me like it much more)

 

[q]

I forgot how to calculate flow exactly but it is something like this. (This is not exact and will/should need some refining).
Turn off your pump to let your sump fill up a bit then stop your overflow.
Make a line at that water level.
Make a line 2 or 3 inches lower. (Be exact)
Start your pump and time how long it takes to pump down to the line. (Make sure the tank deosn't overflow).
Next do some math. Calculate the LxWxD to get volume and then find the volume of water.
By using the time you can then calculate the actual GPH that your pump is flowing.
This should work. Unfortunaly I am not into the mathmatics of it all so I am leaving you a little short but others can fill in the rest prety eaxily I believe.

 

[silent bob]

what are yo trying to accomplish, is your sump filling up before the return can get rid of it?, if so try putting a ball valve on the 1" overflow line and restrict it to the flow you want.