Pump reccomendations soght

[thallone]

Looking for reccomendations for the best pump (brand and model) to meet the following tank specs. Bonus points for low noise.

I am in the process of setting up a 58 reef ready. More specifically, re-setting up the reef-ready. I intend to have a few sps when all is said and done. I prefer to use only one pump and no powerheads. I intend to have an as-of-yet undesigned refugium and also a surge unit(silent-surge design). Having up til now used a Rio, I have come to the conclusion that I would vastly prefer something with threaded in/out, but i could go either way on that.

Finally, I am NOT planning on running a skimmer. My preferred system type is that of minimum food input with primary feeding coming from closed ecosystem. I have had closed ecosystem working well in the past, but I made a couple dumb errors that destroyed all I had wrought. (a kalk doser disaster and a shorting powerhead)

For now, I am beginning the cycling of the system with the Rio running, but long term I am looking for something that I can set up and forget about.

[David Grigor]

There are lots of different way to handle, but remember you are at risk when using a single pump for your return and all your circualation needs.

If you don't want powerheads in your tank thats fine but I strongly suggest to use more than just 1 pump if doing so. A pump failure could be disasterous even in a relatively short amount of time. To go one step further, It would be nice to have least one on a ups and/or seperate circuit for redundancy........


For your tank a couple of Mag5 or 7s would probably be just fine. You can setup both as return pumps or one as a closed loop in the tank.

[thallone]

Having not run mags, what is the noise level, reliability level, and maintainance needs on the mags? I know that with my Rio, they start out so quiet it's scary, but over time, get awfully rattly.

My thoughts are that I will probably be maintaining my old Rio (2500, I think), so not having a backup is not an issue.

Anyone have an opinion on the Velocity pumps? These look like they might be good for my needs, and hopefully v.low maintainance (which rates tops on my list after quiet). Anyone using one that can tell me if they're as quiet as they claim?

[David Grigor]

I agree for quiet the Velocity pumps are fantastic. Only concern would be several owners have reported that it heats up the tank too much. Since your tank is pretty small it might be an issue.

I can't really say for sure that velocity heat will be worse than two mags or not....

When I refer to two, I mean either runs powerheads in the tank with return or multiple returns. For redundancy you shouldn't run rely on a single pump for all your circulation needs. While keeping a rio as a backup is not a bad idea, it will do little good to you if your at work, sleeping, or out of town and pump goes out.

[Chuck S]

I personally would use a Gorman Rupp (GRI) or an Iwaki Pump. Both have proven reliability and are top notch pumps delivering years of service.

[purduemaximus]

What about Mag Pumps? How would you rate those?

[Chuck S]

Mags are good pumps however depending on the head pressure you might want to get a better pumps. The pumps meantioned above are pressure rated. Mags are not. I ran a 2 Mag's on two other tanks I have.

[thallone]

After doing quite a bit of cleaning this weekend last at my dad's house (to get it ready to sell), I have come into possession of a Gorman-Rupp 3900 series pump, apparently in good repair. I am looking at using that, if I can get more information about the pumps from GRI. Thanks for all the comments.

[Chuck S]

Here is a link to the 3900 data sheet

http://www.gripumps.com/pdfs/cent_17.pdf