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What size return pump do i need?


fightinghippo

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I have a oceanic 90g reef ready aquarium with one overflow box to the side. Also have a sump which is oceanic and i think its 30gallons. The drain pip from top looks like its 1" and the return pipe is 3/4"

what size return pump should i be looking for?

Any help is greatly appreciated

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Yes, from the height that the pump would be sitting to the height of where the return pipe connects to the tank. Just need vertical height and not the actual hose length.

Also, do you have an anticipated budget?

Typically with no budget considerations, I would always go with an eheim hobby pump, or an eheim compact for cramped spaces. These pumps are about as good as they come and will last a long time.

Otherwise most people use a mag as they are fairly reliable and cost less than the eheims.

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Ok. So briefly touching on overflow theory, there are basically 2 ways to make a silent overflow. The first is running a drain at a full siphon which will not allow any air to enter and thus will be completely silent. The second is to run a vented overflow at 30 - 50% flow which creates a laminar water flow on the outside of the drain with a channel of air in the middle. As long as the flow stays low enough not to collapse the air channel, it will be quiet. Running a full siphon requires at least 2 drains total as the siphon line must remain submerged so that no air enters it. The second overflow handles additional drainage requirements and the pump should supply slightly more volume than the siphon can handle.

Since you have a single 1" drain line, you cannot run it at a siphon. With a vented line, you're desired flow rate should be around 300 - 500 gph, to prevent noise. This amount depends on the dynamics of the actual drain line, but 1/3 - 1/2 of rated flow usually works. The overflow can handle up to about 900 gph, but will likely be very noisy above around 1/2 of its rated flow.

I would figure about 5' - 5'6" for the height plus head-loss from plumbing.

For eheim hobby, you'd be looking at the model 1260. Should come in about 375 - 400 gph @ 60".

The eheim compact 5000+ will be closer to 500, but is adjustable.

The Mag Drive you would want the 700 / 7 which would be 400 - 450 gph.

Cost-wise, the eheim's are going to run around $180. The mag is around $75.

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jestep is on point as usual. something to consider in addition, is that you can always buy a more powerful pump than is required and then to use a ball or gate valve on the outlet side to reduce the flow to where you want it. I've noticed that it is becoming much more common to run multiple things from the return pump (GFO/Carbon/Biopellet reactors) connected to a manifold, as opposed to running each of those things from individual submerged pumps.

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