Help me pick a return pump!

[DCR]

It is very unlikely you are going to get 1000-1500 gph with just two 3/4" returns no matter what pump you get. The head losses are going to be a lot more than 5 ft with that piping at that flow rate. I would not expect anymore than 600-700 gph unless you get a really high head pressure rated pump. I would just accept a 4-5X turnover rate with the two 3/4" returns you have.

To achieve the 1000-1500 gph, the returns really need to be at least 1". You would need to swage up to 1-1/4" at the discharge of the pump and then run two 1" leads to the return ports. You generally should go up at least one pipe size from the pump discharge port. Never reduce down in size. Pumps are designed with high velocity discharge nozzles to develop head. They are not the most economical size for the return pipe.

 

[Reefin Dude]

can it be external?

any pressure rated AC pump should have no problems pushing 1500gph through 3/4 bulkheads. Pan-World 200 and 250 will do it. there are several ReefFlo's (Sword Tail) that could to it.

i could not find a DC pump that could do it. their pump curves are way to flat.

G~

 

[HolisticBear]

Another vote for Varios

 

[Jr'sReef]

I have a jebao dcp 10,000 and can’t hear it in the sump is running at 95%

 

[Tanglover11]

Jebao Dcp 18000 basement to main floor application set on lowest setting. Zero noise plenty of power! Replaced a Deepwater DC15000 that continuously failed and a Mag drive 24 that was loud and didn’t have the power to push enough water

 

[ReefSlice]

How about a fluval sp4 or 6? I'd still be reducing the plumbing but not as much as the others and I know the AC pumps have more of a kick.

 

[Oleshp]

How about a fluval sp4 or 6? I'd still be reducing the plumbing but not as much as the others and I know the AC pumps have more of a kick.

I actually thought about the sp4 before going with the varios. I wanted a DC pump so the flow control was done with the controller rather than just restricting flow.

 

[Centerline]

Vote for Various!

 

[ReefSlice]

Or perhaps even go old school and use 2 eheim 1262's, that way I'm not reducing plumbing size. Wondering how much heat and power that would take though.

 

[Tanglover11]

Dcp18000 Jebao in basement sump

 

[Centerline]

Or perhaps even go old school and use 2 eheim 1262's, that way I'm not reducing plumbing size. Wondering how much heat and power that would take though.

They certainly are quite!

 

[rosshamsandwich]

are lifegard aquatics quiet one pumps any good? anyone use it?

 

[jeffrey holloway]

Give Danner Mag Drives a look. Low priced, flat out push the water that it says it will, and bulit to last.

 

[coralfrenzy88]

Jebao dct series....they come with a controller and are excellent pumps that are super quiet.....I got a 12000 model and it makes at 3100gph but I throttled mine down. So I could use it in my.mixed reef and at same time extend the life of the pump....they have some nice features to for the price....I only.paid 100 for mine on eBay and it was brand new

Sent from my H1611 using REEF2REEF mobile app

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Fluval sp and be done with it!

 

[rockskimmerflow]

I agree with the Fluval SP series or Eheim 1262 pair to run the tank. Personally, I'd never trust a DC return pump with a power brick and cheap controller. Too many points of failure for literally the most critical piece of filtration equipment. At the end of the day OP just wants to push as much water as he can through the 3/4" returns. You'd have a bit more plumbing to do put together with the Fluval SP option and you'd get a bit more flow/wattage than the Eheims. Though, the eheims would be very straight forward to plumb and you'd have redundancy with 2 discrete pumps operating. If you live in an area where you don't or will rarely need a chiller then you might actually benefit from the extra watts the 2 eheims would add since your heater would have a little less work to do in a given duty cycle.

 

[rockskimmerflow]

Dcp18000 Jebao in basement sump

Not to hijack, but you might really want to rethink the way that UV sterilizer is plumbed. As a rule UV inlets and outlets need to be positioned so the body of the sterilizer if full of water when operating and remains full in the event of feed pump power failure. Looks like a simple and effective sump setup otherwise, nice clean installation of the equipment.

 

[ReefSlice]

I live in South Florida, so extra heat is definitely not a good thing, but hard to say how much heat that would be.
I also thought about running dual returns and god forbid one fails, a back siphon fed by the other working pump will flood my house.
I think I've decided on just using a fluval sp, this was my original plan but Im not sure whether the sp4 will give me enough kick after the reduction, however the sp6 uses 1 1/4 so I'd be reducing even further. My plan is to keep the pumps plumbing up to the t where my returns split and then reduce from the t to reduce pressure change.
So, should I go with the sp4 or sp6 to get ~1000 gph through my returns?

 

[Jerry Ebner]

Reef octo various 6 dc pump and i have one inch pvc pipe.

 

[gcrawford]

Varios all the way. Silent and large return pipes can be used.