Did you know that you should NOT vary the intensity of the return pump throughout the day?

[Reef Outfit]

According to manufacturers of smart return pumps you should NOT vary the intensity of your pump throughout the day, even if this feature is available. If you do so you will have varying water levels in the overflow box, sump and skimmer, causing all kinds of problems and never being able to keep things stable.

 

[vlangel]

Hmm, I don't ever vary the intensity of the return pump, ( it runs full out always) but yeah, I guess that makes sense.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

To me it’s simply common sense. When you fine tune the return which takes time and effort, why mess with it after?

 

[afrokobe]

I didnt know people were doing this lol

 

[Dbichler]

Sometimes I change my percentage but not hourly more like every couple of months just to get a deeper clean but then change it back.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

The feature is to be used with closed loops not for the return pump function. It is very useful in that setting.

 

[vlangel]

To me it’s simply common sense. When you fine tune the return which takes time and effort, why mess with it after?

I have an HOB overflow box instead of a drilled tank. The flow through the U tube must be calibrated for the drain capacity, ( too much and it's makes a noisey flushing sound, too little and air bubbles build up in the U tube and eventually can cause the syphon to break). So when I found the sweet spot ( which was 100%) of my pump's capacity I always run at that.

 

[FishTruck]

I have a basement sump. When I want the system shut down (to change filter socks etc...) ... i turn the pump down to 40%, which is enough to keep the pipes flooded - but without moving much water. Basically, just enough energy to overcome the pressure head and keep the frag tanks circulating while the filter socks empty out.

This way... when I turn it back in, it does not blast air and turbulent water all over the place / or raise the water in the sump (making the skimmer go crazy) etc...

I also turn it up 5 to 10 % when I vacuum the main tank into my filter socks, which might go on for hours as I intentionally stir up detritus in the BB tank upstairs.

Other than that... I NEVER adjust the power output of my DC return pump - LOL.

 

[Reef Outfit]

Guess this one might be more for the less experienced fellows like me, but thank you all for your information.

 

[vlangel]

It is interesting to see why and how folks do things, even for me and I would consider myself a fairly seasoned aquarist.

 

[Reef Outfit]

New hobbyists without this information might try to use this feature on their tanks and have a really hard time figuring out why they can’t keep things stable. Like me.

This information isn’t available on the return pump manual or in the tank manual. If it wasn’t for this forum I might have never figured it out.

Maybe this info doesn’t have to be out there but certainly would help. And the advertisement on some manufacturers page doesn’t help, like this picture of a reefer in the background with the app showing variable flow programming throughout the day and the text below it:

Maybe it’s just me.

 

[coralnutz]

Seems like there should be a "yes that's common sense" option to the poll.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I get that new hobbyist who are still learning all that encompass this hobby would benefit from this.

Although once you have basic understanding of how water flows through a system and have some experience adjusting that gate valve, the conclusion isn't foreign.

 

[Reef Outfit]

I would add it if I could but seems uneditable.

Besides that’s a very generic and subjective statement. A bit arrogant if you don’t mind me saying so.

I’m sure you could talk to a NASA engineer and he would enlighten you on things that are common sense to him but you probably couldn’t start to wrap your mind around it.

Common sense implies you have previous knowledge of things surrounding the matter.

When manufacturing a product you must set the bar low (not low as chimpanzees) but you must give all relevant information to a certain extent, at least to cover serious liabilities and show respect to the customer.

There’s a huge amount of cases in court based on things one might consider common sense. A single word omitted or expressed in a dubious manner might be interpreted by the judge as a mistake and have huge consequences.

I own a retail business and have a 30 year career in advertising, I take my customers very seriously and do my best to be honest and thorough. Basing my business on common sense would be a mistake.

I don’t expect them to know anything about it.

When you buy anything you know nothing about you expect to receive information from the manufacturer to make it function correctly.

Of course when they have experience it changes everything.

 

[Borat]

I didn't know that I shouldn't - now I want to do exactly that!

 

[Natural_Reefer]

Seems like there should be a "yes that's common sense" option to the poll.

Second this!
I was kinda shock and thought it was a marketing gimmicky when I saw the App for Sicce SDC return pump has 5 Modes (basically varies flow patterns like a wave maker).

 

[Reef Outfit]

I didn't know that I shouldn't - now I want to do exactly that!

Oh Borat, have you got no common sense my friend??? Lol

 

[Derrick0580]

I mean did I “know” you weren’t supposed to? No I did not, but in all the years having tanks I’ve never thought about varying my return pump speed, just set it and forget it except when it’s time to clean it.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I’ve never considered doing that and it does seem to be a bit of common sense. That said, I’ve been reefing for decades and we have new reefers on this site who could benefit from the info.

 

[Devisissy]

I respect your admittance of this faux pas.