Recommended Pump For Mixing Station

ggNoRe · Oct 12, 2020

Looking for some guidance on which pump to buy. I have 2 20G trash cans which will be connected to this external pump which will have 3 purposes. 1 pushing water from fresh water to salt container. 2 mixing salt in saltwater container. 3 Pushing out water all the way from the garage through about 50ft of vinyl tubing directly into the tank. Looking for as cheap as possible that can get the job done. Thanks in advance!

dtruitt · Oct 12, 2020

That's going to be a lot of head pressure. Figure 1 foot of head per 10 horizontal feet, plus the height from your pump to wherever it goes in the tank. Add a foot per 90 degree bend.

Since it's flexible tubing, I'd double the horizontal rule since there will inevitably be some bends. Id figure this puts you around 8-12 feet.

Sicce's syncra pumps are a pretty good value. A 3.0 would probably be a safe enough bet. A 3.5 would be safer.

IKD · Oct 12, 2020

Jebao pumps are an option for a mixing station also.

ggNoRe · Oct 12, 2020

dtruitt said:
That's going to be a lot of head pressure. Figure 1 foot of head per 10 horizontal feet, plus the height from your pump to wherever it goes in the tank. Add a foot per 90 degree bend.

Since it's flexible tubing, I'd double the horizontal rule since there will inevitably be some bends. Id figure this puts you around 8-12 feet.

Sicce's syncra pumps are a pretty good value. A 3.0 would probably be a safe enough bet. A 3.5 would be safer.

Thank you for that info that helps a lot!

ggNoRe · Oct 12, 2020

Based on that info I want to be around 500gph or higher at 15' head to be on the safe side. I'm thinking Pan World or Reeflo would be cheapest at around 200-250$. Was hoping to find something in the jebao price range though if possible.

dtruitt · Oct 12, 2020

ggNoRe said:
Based on that info I want to be around 500gph or higher at 15' head to be on the safe side. I'm thinking Pan World or Reeflo would be cheapest at around 200-250$. Was hoping to find something in the jebao price range though if possible.

Sicce's 3.5 isn't bad, but only has a 12.6 head and 661 gph at 0 head.

What are you using for your return? You can always try your return pump to gauge how N feet of head suits the long run.

ggNoRe · Oct 12, 2020

Tank hasn't been built yet. I'm starting with the mixing station first. Plan to get a Simplicity 2100 return pump eventually.

jda · Oct 13, 2020

PanWorld/BlueLine are gold standard for this type of thing - have to be external. Mag Drive 12 or 18 would get the job done too. DC pumps suck at head pressure outside of the very expensive ones.

ApolloReef · Oct 13, 2020

I have a very similar setup. From my mixing tank from my garage to my tank is about 50-60 ft. I use a Pan World 50PX-X. I set up my manifold on my mixing station so I can both pull water from the tank in the house and fill water in my tank. I takes about 30 minutes to pull and then fill about 20 gallons at that distance. I also use it to move fresh water to the salt water container and mix up the salt water. One thing I do is keep it on a timer, so while the salt water sits, it turns on to mix it up 3 times a day or so.

dbowman5 · Oct 13, 2020

ggNoRe said:
Looking for some guidance on which pump to buy. I have 2 20G trash cans which will be connected to this external pump which will have 3 purposes. 1 pushing water from fresh water to salt container. 2 mixing salt in saltwater container. 3 Pushing out water all the way from the garage through about 50ft of vinyl tubing directly into the tank. Looking for as cheap as possible that can get the job done. Thanks in advance!

i have 2 30 gal. recycle trash cans that i use for mixing. i have them next to the deep sink across the basement from my sump. i am curious as to how you are planning to plumb your external pump to do the jobs you have outlined.
i use $15 wave pumps to do the mixing and transfer. you don't say how big your aquarium system is. mine is 100 gal total.
I turn on RODI which fills the FW can. this has a pump in the bottom which mixes the Prime that i put in it. this same pump with a short hose attached to output pumps the FW to the SW can next to it which also has a pump in it plus a small heater. the salt is mixed in this drum and the pump is strong enough to keep the water moving until the salt is dissolved. the transfer is slow if i use the wave pump to do it but i have a Sicce Syncra 3.0 that works very well. i have it on another system that has a 4 ft lift with 3 90's using 3/4 " tubing. https://media.cdn.bulkreefsupply.com/media/wysiwyg/PDFs/syncra.pdf about $100

ApolloReef · Oct 13, 2020

dbowman5 said:
i have 2 30 gal. recycle trash cans that i use for mixing. i have them next to the deep sink across the basement from my sump. i am curious as to how you are planning to plumb your external pump to do the jobs you have outlined.
i use $15 wave pumps to do the mixing and transfer. you don't say how big your aquarium system is. mine is 100 gal total.
I turn on RODI which fills the FW can. this has a pump in the bottom which mixes the Prime that i put in it. this same pump with a short hose attached to output pumps the FW to the SW can next to it which also has a pump in it plus a small heater. the salt is mixed in this drum and the pump is strong enough to keep the water moving until the salt is dissolved. the transfer is slow if i use the wave pump to do it but i have a Sicce Syncra 3.0 that works very well. i have it on another system that has a 4 ft lift with 3 90's using 3/4 " tubing. https://media.cdn.bulkreefsupply.com/media/wysiwyg/PDFs/syncra.pdf about $100

Easy to set up. Needs lots of valves to do it right.