Pumps

timsta67

New Member
Good day everyone,
Almost have all my equipment purchased for that 150 gal reef tank.
Looking at pumps now also realizing the very importance of this piece of equipment.
The problem is finding a pump suitable. I know that for a reef tank it is recommended that you turn the tank over 9-10 times plus all the variables for plumbing. so ???????? where does one find a pump that will turn out 1500+ gal of water phr. looked on line most everything maxes out at 1200-1400 gph need some direction for this next purchase.
 

f14peter

Member
It's important to not confuse turnover GPH with return pump GPH. Usually, one can't count on getting all their turnover with the return pump, additonal turnover GPH is obtained with powerheads, closed-loops sytems, maybe even skimmer pump (Not sure on that one though).
If using an oveflow, the return pump must be somewhat balanced to the capacity of the overflow . . . including headloss, the return should be fairly close to, but not exceeding overflow rate. Flow-charts showing pump capacities at various heads are available sometimes on sites that sell pumps, certainly the pump manufacturer's site, and of course either on side of the box the pump comes in, or the accompanying literature.
EXAMPLE: My overflow is 600GPH, and my Mag7 pump rated at 700GPH gives me around 480GPH where the water re-enters the tank due to a four-foot headloss.
With a 150g, I'd suspect that you have either one high-capacity overflow, or two more typical ones that will probably give you around 1200GPH total flow leaving the tank.
Very high capacity pumps are available, although I think they're usually external (Not submergable, mounted outside sump). More specialized shops may have them, look for pumps that are used for pumping for fountains or home waterfalls.
 
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