HELP! QUICK! pump sizing

[five.five-six]

Ok here we go, I am planning my new reef tank.. I only have 10 days to get it together (bought a complete reef but it has an acrylic tank...I hate acrylic :mad2: I have to pick it up March 31)

I am looking at a 150 gal glass 60X24X24

Return: Iwaki MD40RXT Flow Rate @ 4' Head: 1200 GPH, 1" return line and 2" bulkhead to the sump


Closed system: (3X) Ehime EH1260 635 GPH. 3/4" bulkheads
1 for the chiller and 2 for the wave timer

Am I way off on my seizing?

also there will be 6 holes / bulkheads drilled in the back of the tank 1 X 1" for return, 2 X 1" for suction buss, and 3 X 3/4" for closed loop return, will that many holes make the tank weak?

this is a prety big dicesion as i am looking at spending over $600 on pumps

[sjm817]

IMO...
Return pump is too big
CL pumps are too small and why 3 pumps?

I'd use a smaller return pump, and use a larger external pump for the CL setup.

[jer77]

Ya your sump flow will be way too much with a 1200 gph pump. You'll want something along the lines of 700-800 gph with head loss. For the closed loop I'd use one bigger pump. You also shouldn't have that many holes in the back of the tank. It will make it very weak. You don't need one for the return and you only need one for the cl input, you can just make it bigger like 1-1/4.

[five.five-six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9537415#post9537415 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
IMO...
Return pump is too big
CL pumps are too small and why 3 pumps?

I'd use a smaller return pump, and use a larger external pump for the CL setup.

well i want 2 pumps for a random wave timer and one for the chiller. the one on the chiller will only come on with the chiller. i used to have a 60 reef with 5 rio 2500's i could not keep the temp down or my electric bill down for that matter. I now suffer from P.H.T.P (pump heat transfer phobia).


so you are saying (1) 1 1/4 bulkhead for my closed loops, and 3/4" for ther returns. what pumps can you recomend?

how about this one for sump return:

Iwaki MD30RLXT Flow Rate @ 4` Head: 960 GPH, 132 watts

I am very interested in keeping my wattage down


perhaps Ehime 1262, 900 gph for the cl pumps

[five.five-six]

perhaps i should just save money, ditch the cl and just use power heads?