Opinons in return pumps

[Areeflover]

hello I’m looking for a good cheap return pump that I can also run a manifold with. Any opinions? My tank will be the Red Sea Reefer 170

 

[14 foot reef]

Good and cheap do not go together, you get what you pay for. It's the back bone of your system, not a place to scrimp and scrape.

 

[LatinKing]

Good and cheap do not go together, you get what you pay for. It's the back bone of your system, not a place to scrimp and scrape.

Great answer

 

[Areeflover]

how many gph do you think I’ll need, to run Red Sea reefer and a manifold with 2 or 3 connections

 

[Gareth elliott]

You want 8-10x turnover from sump to dt.

I would say 600gph? Each pump is different some say 600 produce 400 in reality.

A dc pump will make maintenance 10x easier. Second not going cheap.
Your return fails your entire filtration/heating system is now offline.

 

[Areeflover]

Okay, i don’t know if I should just go all out and go for the vectra s1 or get one of those sicces with are great

 

[Gareth elliott]

Okay, i don’t know if I should just go all out and go for the vectra s1 or get one of those sicces with are great

I have never used a vectra but sicce are dependable and quiet.

I use a current eflux because connects to the same controller as my circulation pumps.

My skimmer uses a sicce pump, i have no complaints on the sicce.

 

[LatinKing]

I would recommend a vectra s1 1400gph

 

[Dragon52]

i use the Vectra M1 on my 180gl. Got it before they came out with the S1 & that would work just as well on my tank.

 

[Areeflover]

Well actually I just looked up the current Eflux and reviews and it looks and sounds amazing and it’s a really good price

 

[14 foot reef]

My LFS only uses the Eflux, they are very happy, they do a ton of installs and maintenance contracts on their installs. So I would assume that's a pretty fine choice.

 

[Dragon52]

I was looking at these before they actually came out on the market as a backup possibility but then Eco-Tech came out with the S1. Still haven't made up my mind yet. I'll probably go with the S1 since it has the same connections as the M1.

 

[MarsRover]

I’m a fan of my vectra L1.

Recommendation: size your return pump at least 10% larger than you need so that you don’t have to run it at 100% to get the flow you need. It will live longer and perform more efficiently.

 

[14 foot reef]

I actually run tandem pumps as a precaution, almost no chance both pumps fail at the same time. With the DC pumps, you can turn each of them down halfway to the desired flow, then if one goes out, you just crank up the second one to full flow. :) Nothing but the best for my aquatic friends :)

 

[Fudsey]

I have been running an Eflux 3170 for 6 months and no complaints

 

[Areeflover]

Good deal, eflux it is maybe one day I’ll upgrade to the vectras

 

[sbidny]

I personally wouldn't go DC for my return pump. A proven, reliable, quiet AC pump would be at the top of my list. I'd probably go with the Fluval SP2, which uses the Askoll pump body. Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0/3.0 and Eheim 1260 are the others I'd consider.

 

[Areeflover]

I personally wouldn't go DC for my return pump. A proven, reliable, quiet AC pump would be at the top of my list. I'd probably go with the Fluval SP2, which uses the Askoll pump body. Sicce Syncra Silent 2.0/3.0 and Eheim 1260 are the others I'd consider.

Why wouldn’t you go dc?

 

[Dom]

You want 8-10x turnover from sump to dt.

I would say 600gph? Each pump is different some say 600 produce 400 in reality.

A dc pump will make maintenance 10x easier. Second not going cheap.
Your return fails your entire filtration/heating system is now offline.

GPH is relative.

A pump may have 600 GPH at 3 feet, but as the height increases, the GPH decreases.

So the first thing you need to determine is how high the pump will have to push water to get it back into the tank. From there, you can select a pump which will give you the desired GPH at the height you intend to pump water.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

I'm very happy with my VarioS pumps.