Pump Size

[LuHockey2]

Need to know opinions on whether a Mag 7 will sufficiently turn over a 120 gallon reef with a 35 gallon fuge. There is roughly 4 ft. of head. There is only one 90 in the line which is right at the point of water return. Any opinions are appreciated.

 

[jagged97]

ReefCentral has a head loss calculator that will estimate your final GPH. It has most common pumps listed. (I know it has MAG7.)

http://reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

 

[aentrop]

NO.

I had a MAG 12 on my 100 gallon, and it wasn't enough.

Reeflo Hammerhead would be good... or Dart if you want to run your skimmer and everything else off of it.

I have the Dart on my 150 and its barely enough. I run my skimmer off of it too.

 

[Firewolf4]

instead of looking solely at turnover, you might want to look at drain sizes as they will dictate what size pump you can run with as well. a pair of 1" drains in a pure vertical drop will only drain 1200 GPH. with a 4 foot rise, a 1500 GPH pump would work.

 

[Charlie]

Hmm, keep in mind these are opinions. Mag7 would be marginal assuming you'd get about 5-600 gph return. I personally would go with a mag9 if it is just returning water to the tank, not driving skimmer or other devices. A hammerhead has 5600gph and the dart has 3600. Way too much unless you are driving multiple skimmers/chillers/tanks. Plus you would need an external pump, vs in the sump like the mags...

@aentrop wrote:

 

[shookbrad]

I just put a Mag 9.5 on my 107 G tank and that seams to be just right. I am also running a mag 5 on the Closed loop so water movement is just about right in my new tank.
A few things you might consider is putting a manifold on the return so you can feed other things like skimmer, Phosban reactor, Calcium Reactor, etc. If you do that I would consider a mag 12. Mag pumps are work horses with low watage usage and low heat.

 

[aentrop]

@shookbrad wrote:

The MAG 12 I had on my 150 gallon tank raised the tank temp 3 degrees!
When I switched to the Dart I had a 3 degree drop from 82 to 79.

 

[doc2981]

With a 4' rise you will achieve approx. 500gph out of a mag7.
Giving you a turn over of 4 times an hour.You need at least 5 times per hour so I would go to a Mag9.5 if I was you.