Return pump for reef tank..HELP!!!

[Guest]

I am debating on whether or not to get a Gen-X gx1800 pump for my 210 gallon tank. Does anyone have experience with this pump? is it too much flow (4750 gph)? Can it be throttled down? I plan on using the pump to run my media reactors, calc reactor and uv. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

i just saw a post on rc your return pump should not be bigger than the pump running your skimmer. so minus the flow to your misc stuff and see if it larger than your skimmer pump

 

[Guest]

pampee, what if I used a ball valve to throttle it down? Would that work?

 

[psteeleb]

as long as you use the ball valve on the discharge you should be fine

 

[bimmerzs]

@kuyatwo wrote:

:shock: Wouldn't that depend on the type of skimmer involved???? What about folks that gravity feed their skimmer from the drain. I can't follow that logic, please explain. :?

Cheers,

 

[Guest]

the reason they explained is if your skimmer pump is 800 gph and your return pump is 3000 gph you are shooting the water through your sump too fast to get the full effect of a sump and your skimmer.


it is like you using a too big of a pump on a chiller it will not cool down as fast as you are using a slower pump (this is my guess)

 

[bimmerzs]

@kuyatwo wrote:

But a seperate pump will still pull the same amount of water wouldn't it.. There a lot of different way's to setup a skimmer as well as different types of skimmer's such as downdraft, beckett etc. I don't see how someone could make a blanket statement like that, maybe I'm missing something.

Cheers,

 

[mitch91175]

If skimming is an issue, couldn't he have a manifold on his return pump that has an run directly back to his skimmer area? That way he could have better control of the flow as it relates to the amount of time his water is in the skimmer area? Some water will most definitely return to the tank, but some of it will also go directly back to his skimmer. Iluvsoccer what type of pump do you have on your skimmer?