Plumbing 90g... what Mag do I use???

[AngeloM3]

Hey everyone....

Well I'm in the process of plumbing my new 90g tank. Just curious how do I figure out what model Mag I need to use for my return. I don't care about turnover rate cause I have plenty of powerheads and 2 Squids that I'll be using.

[cepaw]

is your tank reef ready ?
or are you using an overflow box ?
if you are using an overflow box, it will be rated at so many gallons per hour, you want to be close to that with your return pump, magdrive site has a chart for gph, keep in mind the height the pump is traveling as well.
if its reef ready, I think its rated at 600 gph ? it should say on the manufactors site.
hope this helps

[AngeloM3]

its AGA overflow...... just checked their site and its 600gph

now the pump has to push the water 4' up.....

the mag7 at 4' does 480gph and the mag9.5 does 800gph

how do i match the two rates?

[cepaw]

you could go with the 9.5, and put a ball valve in to control the flow. (if you are using pvc) keep in mind also if you are going up 4', any bends, 45's,90's will slow the rate down

I use an overflow box rated at 800 gph, with a 9.5
it goes up 4', but has a 45 and a 90 on it, and the flow is just right without any valve

[xenon]

I use the mag 9.5 and throttle it back a little.. I have 5ft of head plus two 90degree elbows and it can handle the 9.5 full throttle but the overflow surges a little.

The mag7 would work but I would rather have more with control than less without control.

[t-bone2]

I use a mag 9.5

[kensilvey]

Never to much for a reef as long as your overflow can handle it.

[Shagsbeard]

You'll want to match your drain as closely as you can. A gate valve is much easier to fine tune than a ball valve, and I'd recommend that for your return pipe. 600 gals/hour will not be your "flow" though. You'll need substantially more than that in the tank. You can rig up a closed loop, or use powerheads. You'll need to adapt this extra flow to the occupants you plan to keep. Some like low flow and some like high.

[jacksparrow7]

Aloha, I have a 90g Pentagon corner and was running a mag 12 with a T-piece inline and flexible pvc for two return lines. I am very new to reefing and listened to my lfs before I knew about reefcentral and this is what they told me I needed. I have since changed out the mag 12 to a Ocean Runner 3500. Two reasons, 1. the mag had way to much flow going through my small 20gal sump (very restricted on space right now) 2. The mag 12 was very loud, the tank is in my great room so it was a issue with wife. I had done everything to try and quiet it down but nothing worked. This is of course just my two cents.
Jack

[AngeloM3]

Alright thanks everyone....

I wasnt sure if you could "throttle back" a Mag.

[AngeloM3]

Well I just wanna make sure I'm understanding this right..........

The megaflow in my tank is rated at 660gph. The height the pump will have to push is 5'. A Mag 9.5 at 5' is 750gph. I understand bends will decrease this.

But if I'm still getting to many gph from the Mag 9.5, I'll have to throttle it back. Now your talking about throttling it back on the output side? Because this mag will be in the sump, so there is no input side to throttle back.

Is this ok to do??

[Balz]

Yes... you only want to restict flow on the output side of any pump

[AngeloM3]

Ok thanks...

I'll try to put some bends in the plumbing even if they arent needed.... just so I dont have to put to much stress on the pump by throttling it back.

Thank you everyone for your input and $.02

[poppin_fresh]

Remember...flow in the tank is good, but in the sump its bad. It will decrease skimmer performance significantly, as well as make it more difficult to keep a refugium. Running all 600 gph through the sump will cause you problems.

You could buy a 9.5 and divert some of its flow back to the sump. I wouldn't just put a ball valve on and restrict it, it causes unecessary head on the pump. I would simply buy a smaller pump, which wont need to be restricted and will use less power too.

[AngeloM3]

Well if i buy 1 size smaller Mag.... it wont be able to keep up with the 600gph coming from the overflow

[poppin_fresh]

The overflow will only flow what the return pump pumps... up to its maximum of 600gph. If the return pump pushes 300 gph up to the tank, only 300 gph are going to flow back down. However, if you send 700 gph up to the tank, only the 600 will flow back down the overflow and the other 100 gallons are going over the sides!

[AngeloM3]

hmmmm...... i must of fell asleep in physics class more often than i can remember :D

think i'll just go with a Mag7 that does 420gph at 5'. Do you think 420gph through a sump is still to much?

[poppin_fresh]

:D A lot of people dont get how the overflow works, they think its similar to the drain in your tub. The thing to realize is that the overflow drain is at the top of the tank, not the bottom. You must pump water in to raise the level and get it to drain out. Stop the pump, the water level doesn't rise and the overflow stops.

I personally think the 7 would match up much better. Like I said, a nice slow sump speed will benefit you more in the long run.

[AngeloM3]

Thanks a lot poppin_fresh! Now I know why you were mentioned on Reefcast :D

All this time i thought you had to match the pump with the overflow rate.... thinking to myself.... "i've never read anything in someones build journal that they had a problem matching up the rates"

[sjm817]

Mag7 is the appropriate sized pump, but they are really loud pumps. I'd recommend an Eheim 1260 or Ocean Runner 2500 instead. Despite the ratings, both have will have stronger flow than the Mag7 as well.

[AngeloM3]

I have a Mag5 now. Not to loud. But what I do anyways is silicone suction cups to it so it doesnt sit right on the bottom of the sump.

I'll check out those two pumps though... change is always good (sometimes :D)

[sjm817]

Mag7 is a lot louder than a Mag5. BTW, you can convert that Mag5 to a Mag7 with a $10 impeller swap.

[chrismhaase]

I had a mag 9.5 on my 55 reef. I also had a fuge and everythign was awesome. No problems what so ever. Once you factor in SCWDs, 90 and 45 bends the 9.5 will be perfect.

[sjm817]

I missed the SCWDs part. That makes a huge difference. A 9.5 with a SCWD flows about as much as a Mag5.

[AngeloM3]

oops....... sorry..... mistype in my first post

I'll only be running 1 SCWD... but that will be on its on CL pump

So I'll still be going with the Mag7 for my return pump

[chrismhaase]

lets us know how it works. pictures?

[AngeloM3]

yah i'll be making a "Tank Build Thread"

Just started too...... all I got is the tank
I'll be making the stand and canopy in the next couple weeks

[chrismhaase]

well good luck, we will be awaiting progress reports.