Picking new pumps for better circulation

[DJasak]

I've been doing a lot of thought lately and I think I'm going to re-do my reef. By that I don't mean drain the tank, and restart from scratch, rather switching from mostly softies and lps over to SPS dominant. I have a 45 gallon tank and I'm looking for suggestions for better circulation. I have 2 aqueon 500s in the tank now but they're not moving the water as well as they should. What would u guys reccomend to get great water movement around the corals, thru the rocks, along the sandbed to keep detritus suspended long enough to be caught by my skimmer (so my sand stays nice and clean) as well as great water movement at the surface to avoid that oil slick protein build up?

[lobstergrabber]

Well it depends on how much you can afford. You have the jebao rw or wp series at the bottom of the list of high/wide flow power heads all the way up to the vortech and the high end of the spectrum with tunze and maxpect in the middle. They will all create a strong wide flow pattern which will get you what you need. If you have specific needs maybe we can dial it in for you.

Richard


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[Tanthaitrung]

Return pump + power heads >40x display tank

[Ron Reefman]

It helps to have return pump and powerhead/wavemakers that have adjustable speeds.

I just set up a 125g 5'x2'x20" tank. The return pump is a 10 speed DCT15000, I have 2 RW8 wavemakers that have 8 speeds and 2 Crossflow CP40's that have 10 speeds. I can make as much flow as I want and pretty much make the water move everywhere. Total cost of all 5 units was just about $500 (the DC15000 was used 1 month and bought for $100). Or you can buy 1 EcoTech Vortech for about the same money and have 20% of what you want!

I calculated my turnover rate with just the RW8's and the CP40's at full power to be about 120X. But I'll hook them up to an Apex and run pumps in such a way as to create massive changes in flow simulating tidal flow (more about flow direction than about total volume). The corals don't really care about that, but it does keep the tank stirred up which is good for everybody inside. And I enjoy the fact that I can create tides.

[Green Chromis]

:fish1: Hi all, their is a really good article in Coral Magazine in regards to Tungsten and other metals being released into aquariums from Chinese made pumps, which use inferior metals and coating in their pump impellers. I have always used high quality pumps, and other products, that have great quality controls in place, and a very good reputation for the products they sell. This was a very interesting read, and just shows you, that you get what you pay for. :fish1:

[Sk8r]

I struggled with 2 cranky powerheads and finally decided to bite the bullet for a Gyre, with which I am very happy. They have to be cleaned, and I would definitely NOT recommend one for a tank with a lot of algae debris in the system: it might not tolerate that. But they're good. I have far better flow, no dead spots, top to bottom, and no other powerheads.

[DJasak]

Would the gyre be too much for a system as small as mine??

[Ron Reefman]

They have speed controls built in so you don't need to run it at full flow. I have a Jebao Crossflow CP40 in a 25g frag tank (2'x2'x10") that runs slow enough.

[whosurcaddie]

Hows the build quality of the CP40 Ron? I've owned Jebao rw-8's 15's and have been really pleased with the build quality.

[zsuman101]

Tunze, or ecotech, then you only have to buy them once. don't skimp youll be ahead within a year . good luck. zsu

[Ron Reefman]

Hows the build quality of the CP40 Ron? I've owned Jebao rw-8's 15's and have been really pleased with the build quality.

I have both a Maxspect 150 and Jebao CP40. I like the Maxspect controller better, but the Jebao build quality and 'feel' make the Maxspect feel kind of frail. I'm very happy with mine.

zsuman, yeah, like Ecotech hasn't had their share of issues. And since they cost 4 times as much...

[whosurcaddie]

Thanks Ron, I've heard of people having issues with the Gyre or the frailness of it. Think I'll pick one up.

[xCry0x]

I just got a cp-40 so I can't speak to the longevity of the pump, but as Ron mentioned the build quality seems great.

The thing is solid.

I had a bit of a conversation with the ebay seller on it and he told me out of all the pumps he has sold only 3 have been returned with actual equipment issues and 1 of those he was fairly certain was user related.

The people rambling about issues with cross flows seem to suffer from short term memory. Ecotech came out with quiet drive because the original vortechs were so loud. Gyre's came out with the new "durable" blade for them because the originals were frail. Those are expensive name brand pumps that had plenty of issues.

I think the overall design of the cross flow/gyre makes it more prone to needing to be cleaned since it has more of a water wheel pushing water along a long shaft as opposed to a impeller blade like a typical pump.

I love how much water it pushes, run it at about 40% on my 36" long tank.

[Sk8r]

I have a 36"x36"x36" wedge bow and it rolls all the way to the sand, under the rocks and back up at 40-50%. My palm-sized domino likes to hang in the current and breathe the stream, and the little Fiji blues get in and dart and dive as damsels do in an ocean flow: holding place in it takes work.