Suggestion on COR pump(s)

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Bruce60

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Hi! I currently have a 150 gal display with another 30-35 gal in the sump/refugium. It is an island tank viewable from all four sides, so I am using a central overflow, specifically a Custom Aquarium Concealment Column (Link), that contains two 3/4” returns with 3/4” hoses running down to the sump. Due to the nature of this configuration, I am unable to increase the diameter of the returns. It is roughly a 5’ height increase from sump to return with a total of three 90 degree bends at the top of the hose through the return nozzle. I started out using a Maxspect Duo 9K - I was intrigued with the dual impellers for a single motor. It has worked adequately, but as the pump has aged close to a year, it is obvious that I am pushing the pump to the edge - it just does not do well with any head.

Since I have an Apex, it seems natural to switch to the COR pumps. I am leaning to replacing the Duo with two COR-15s, one for each 3/4” return. I prefer the COR15 to the COR 20 since I will not need the two power bricks, and can just plug straight into the Apex with the 1link ports. However, I have some questions:
  1. Would two COR-15s be adequate? According to the flow diagram it would seem that I would get about 500 gph out of each with an estimate of 8’ of head (5’ of lift and an additional foot for each 90 degree). But what impact would a 3/4” return have on this flow compared to the recommended 1-1/4” return? I can run up to about 1200 gph total through the overflow, but would be happy with anything over 500 gph.
  2. This is very important - how can I coordinate the IQ level between the two return pumps to set the minimum and maximum flow rates? I don’t see anything in the existing literature to help with this.
I attach an image to show the situation under the tank. Thanks!
image.jpg


image.jpg
 

DarthSimon

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With 3/4 Inch, you will probably max out at 500 GPH if you have little head loss....

As far as the IQ Levels....
You set a power in a schedule. I would think you would want a set percentage. NO need to vary the flow, you want that constant. The IQ level is in place to set boundaries for max flow rates. For Example. if someone had a nano tank, 20 Gallons... If the Cor Pump IQ was set to 100 and the user set the pump schedule power to 100 the tank would over flow.
By setting the IQ level to 10-20 it caps the schedule power.....

Here's some examples of how that works...
Schedule Power 100% IQ 100 = 100% Power Max
Schedule Power 100% IQ 50= 50% Power Max
Schedule Power 50% IQ 100 = 50% Power
Schedule Power 50% IQ 50 = 25% Power

I would go for the Cor20's they come with dedicated power bricks, and stand alone controllers. If anything ever happened to your apex, you could still use the Cor20 and plug it's power brick into an alternate power supply.

Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 8.19.51 PM.png
 
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With 3/4 Inch, you will probably max out at 500 GPH if you have little head loss....

As far as the IQ Levels....
You set a power in a schedule. I would think you would want a set percentage. NO need to vary the flow, you want that constant. The IQ level is in place to set boundaries for max flow rates. For Example. if someone had a nano tank, 20 Gallons... If the Cor Pump IQ was set to 100 and the user set the pump schedule power to 100 the tank would over flow.
By setting the IQ level to 10-20 it caps the schedule power.....

Here's some examples of how that works...
Schedule Power 100% IQ 100 = 100% Power Max
Schedule Power 100% IQ 50= 50% Power Max
Schedule Power 50% IQ 100 = 50% Power
Schedule Power 50% IQ 50 = 25% Power

I would go for the Cor20's they come with dedicated power bricks, and stand alone controllers. If anything ever happened to your apex, you could still use the Cor20 and plug it's power brick into an alternate power supply.

Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 8.19.51 PM.png

I run a trio of Cor return pumps. 2 x 15's and 1 x 20. 1 of the Cor 15's is powering my skimmer. The other 15 and 20 are return pumps. The 20 is on the sea swirl with the longest plumbing line. I added a 20 in for two reasons one of which you noted. I plugged it into a different circuit than the Apex. True story on how it saved the day by doing this.

Last year a accident knocked out a power line. We lost power to our neighborhood. Utility company fired power back up and sent in 3 times the normal load tripping every house main circuit breaker. Many of us lost major appliances. My energy bar shut down so I lost the trident and both Cor 15's. The Cor 20 being on its own outlet in the room came back on so I had water flowing. Pretty neat. This gave me time to assess the rest of the home and fix the energy bar the next day. Interesting enough I was able to get it back online and operational but a few months later it tripped the 1link board so I bought a replacement and set it in for repair. $50 bucks plus shipping and now I have a spare.

Point is yes, there is a power brick. However, if you can it wouldn't hurt to buy the 20 and use it for part of your safety net in return pump plumbing. Although I'd recommend going 1" pipe if you can. It is recommended I believe or strongly suggested. Great pumps and I've been using them since launch.
 

DarthSimon

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I run a trio of Cor return pumps. 2 x 15's and 1 x 20. 1 of the Cor 15's is powering my skimmer. The other 15 and 20 are return pumps. The 20 is on the sea swirl with the longest plumbing line. I added a 20 in for two reasons one of which you noted. I plugged it into a different circuit than the Apex. True story on how it saved the day by doing this.

Last year a accident knocked out a power line. We lost power to our neighborhood. Utility company fired power back up and sent in 3 times the normal load tripping every house main circuit breaker. Many of us lost major appliances. My energy bar shut down so I lost the trident and both Cor 15's. The Cor 20 being on its own outlet in the room came back on so I had water flowing. Pretty neat. This gave me time to assess the rest of the home and fix the energy bar the next day. Interesting enough I was able to get it back online and operational but a few months later it tripped the 1link board so I bought a replacement and set it in for repair. $50 bucks plus shipping and now I have a spare.

Point is yes, there is a power brick. However, if you can it wouldn't hurt to buy the 20 and use it for part of your safety net in return pump plumbing. Although I'd recommend going 1" pipe if you can. It is recommended I believe or strongly suggested. Great pumps and I've been using them since launch.


To my point!!!! :)
 

Greg P

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Wow on the power surge.
I have 2 breakers running 3 surge protection outlets on my little 75g and 60g sump.
I sometimes monthly see my lights flicker for no reason.
I feel secure so far that my sensitive tank electronics are protected.
 
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Bruce60

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Thanks for the responses...I've been traveling the past couple of weeks and just getting back to R2R.

I run a trio of Cor return pumps. 2 x 15's and 1 x 20. 1 of the Cor 15's is powering my skimmer. The other 15 and 20 are return pumps.
Do you run both 15's through the same Apex Energy Bar? I was told by someone at Neptune Systems that you can only plug one pump into each energy bar, that two will overload the energy bar. I could not find anything about that in their literature though.

With 3/4 Inch, you will probably max out at 500 GPH if you have little head loss....
Wow! That is more significant than I expected. There's a 5' height increase and 3-90 degree bends. Using the Maxspect Duo 9K I am estimating I am getting between 400-500 gph at full power, which would be about 8' of head using their flow diagram (for what that's worth). Transferring this over to the flow graphs for the COR pumps, it would be roughly 500gph for a COR-15 and 1000gph for a COR-20. I can max out at about 1200gph with my overflow.

Given what I have learned, I am either going to get two COR-20s or one COR-20 and one COR-15. I know that second choice seems a bit odd, but this is an island tank in the middle of a room, so everything has to fit inside the stand. One fewer power brick makes a difference. I will try to balance the flows, but it is not a big deal for there to be an imbalance. If I could run two COR-15s with the one Energy Bar, then I would go with two COR-15s.
 
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Do you run both 15's through the same Apex Energy Bar? I was told by someone at Neptune Systems that you can only plug one pump into each energy bar, that two will overload the energy bar. I could not find anything about that in their literature though.

I run both Cor 15's on the same energy bar / 1Link, yes. That is fine. The Cor 20 is on its own outlet. This is recommended in case the energy bar goes down you will have at least 1 pump running. True story on my part. Accident in the neighborhood. Car hit power line. Power went out. Utility company fixed the line but when power was restored something at their plant failed, no redundancy on their part, and they sent in 3 times the normal power load into our neighborhood. Yup, 3 times. 180 homes hit and each and every one of us had our main panel breakers tripped, all of them.

We start resetting trying to get things back online and then we start to see major appliances not working, solar inverters, my energy bar (Trident, Cor 15 x 2 using 1 link), TV's, etc. You get the idea. Anyway got power restored to those items that are not physically damaged but the energy bar wouldn't come back online. So lights, trident, cor return pumps, off. However, the Cor 20 was still running fine because the outlet it was on was reset and all is good. So to your point while I do not recall a limit of 1 link and Cor 15's (I'm going to send in a ticket for this btw - so ty) it is recommended, and documented, to use the Cor 20 pumps outside the energy bar for this reason and what happened to me above. Had I used the energy bar that pump would have also been toast. Actually, the surge broke the 1 link part but the rest of the energy bar worked fine.

They are solid pumps. I clean them about every 2 or 3 months. Cor 15 return, skimmer. Cor 20 on the longer plumbing runs. I'm not high flow. 210 gallon tank 2 years into the upgrade. Corals just starting to grow in mixed reef. Overall they are pretty well built. Body is thick, very thick. The only thing I don't like about them is the internal O-ring that is used. It seems like they could have designed the groove it sits in a bit better or with a lip so it is easier to keep in place. On the other hand if I was using a bit of lube it probably would be fine... Anyway hope this helps.
 
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Bruce60

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I ended up deciding to order two of the COR-20s. I figured out how to make the bricks and controllers fit under the stand, and I like the idea of having the main returns able to run independently if the Apex goes down. Plus, it is never bad to have excess capacity in the return pumps and run them at a lower speed. Hope to install them this weekend.
 
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I ended up deciding to order two of the COR-20s. I figured out how to make the bricks and controllers fit under the stand, and I like the idea of having the main returns able to run independently if the Apex goes down. Plus, it is never bad to have excess capacity in the return pumps and run them at a lower speed. Hope to install them this weekend.

Let us know what you think. They are pretty hefty and you are right - you are building redundancy in and have options. 1 with a stand by, 2 with lower power, or even alternate them off / on at a set time. I ran that way for a bit as I have Sea Swirls on each end of the tank. Set a virtual outlet, called it tide, and it would alternate return pumps every 6 hours. Pretty interesting.

Best of luck!
 

ahbanks

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Bruce60, how do you like those concealment towers? Looks like a nice solution.
 
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Bruce60

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It is not 100% perfect, but it is the absolute best solution for a tank viewable from all four sides. The alternative would have been a central overflow box about 8" by 8" to be able to fit all the bulkheads for the overflow and return line. With the concealment column, everything is pre-built into a 3" PVC pipe with a box at the top, and there is a single bulkhead. The 3" conduit is actually dry with the hoses running through the interior. There is little to no room to snake much through the remaining space.
IMG_0471.jpeg

This is an early image. You can see the reinforced bottom and the single bulkhead. Inside the 3" conduit are the 1-1/2" overflow and two 3/4" return pipes. They connect to three sides of the box on the top. You can orient any way you want, and I chose the H2Overflow to one side and the returns coming out front and rear. It works nicely in the tank.
IMG_1097.jpg

Here you can see the H2Overflow from the top, as well as the top of the concealment column. The glass top of the column is removable. The H2Overflow works well and is quiet except for a slight sound of running water. The one thing I wish is that I should not have glued down the overflow elbow until I fully tested the system with the circulating pumps running. I would have adjusted the overflow to be slightly lower, as any excessive turbulence in the tank can splash a bit of water into the column, even with the glass top on.
 
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