Good Return Pump Suggestions please.
- Thread starter Frederick Edwards
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I would go with a reef octopus water blaster. They come in a ton of different flow rates have a 3 year warranty and are silent. Next would be a sicce then I would look at the vectra l1. My hy5000 is 5 years old and still runs perfect.
There are some articals out there that explain how newer ac pumps can be just as energy saving as a Dc pumps. They don't have to work as hard to achieve the same head pressure. And really how often do you need to change the speed of your pump. I like ac and D.C. Pumps, it just depends on application. If you go D.C. Make sure you get one strong enough that when it's 50% on you get the flow you want that way you can ramp it up or down as needed
There are some articals out there that explain how newer ac pumps can be just as energy saving as a Dc pumps. They don't have to work as hard to achieve the same head pressure. And really how often do you need to change the speed of your pump. I like ac and D.C. Pumps, it just depends on application. If you go D.C. Make sure you get one strong enough that when it's 50% on you get the flow you want that way you can ramp it up or down as needed
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Two reasons I just chose a variable speed DC.
1. flow charts provided by the manufacturers, I have found to be f*#@XXX up,,, and not at all accurate. So, I chose a pump I believed would cover the flow I wanted, by either turning it up or down.
2. I run an algae scrubber fed from my overflow, so I can increase or decrease the flow over the growth screen to where I feel its best, very easily.
OP
OP
Thank you all for your input. I think for now I am going to go with something simple like the Eheim 1260 until I have an established tank and a better understanding of what my setup will like in the near future and then change accordingly or as I deem necessary.
Can't go wrong with that! I use Sicce in all my tanks. I am just not sold on DC returns yet. I have never once felt the desire to change the flow through my display, I run a T and use the return for sump circulation so I do have some control like that if I wanted with a ball valve but I don't mess with it.
Quality AC return pumps lifespan is generally measured in decades. I have read too much about failures without much energy saving and features I am not interested in, plus another controller in my already crowded sump area. It's just too important to me to have an absolutely reliable return pump.
In 10 years I fully expect my Sicces to be running without any real change in performance. Can't beat that in my book.
Yes and you don't need it to be much more than your skimmer pump. If your skimmer processes 500gph, you should shoot.
Doubtful!
It's not going to ruin anyone's day if they aren't matched – in a closed system, dwell time is irrelevant to a large extent – but it's a sensible target for them to be close. In practice, considering a "normally oversized" skimmer, that target usually winds up being around 2x to 4x the display size. So the actual flow rate through the return pump would be fine in the same range – 2x to 4x the display. In theory, the skimmer is processing the water 1:1 as is goes through the sump that way.
Which, again, is mostly not relevant in a closed system....it's of utmost importance in a single-pass filter like an RODI.
Not as far as we know!
@gcarroll has unknowingly and unsuspectingly stood in for me at trade shows upon occasion though! 
At one point in time, AC pumps were new, Sicce pumps were new to the market and unproven, people who say that DC pumps are too new or unproven weren't there and weren't the people who took a chance to run the new pumps when they came out. Luckily, other people did take the chance and those pumps are still around. DC pumps are here to stay and will prove to be reliable. If major companies like Ecotech didn't think they would cut the mustard, they wouldn't invest in the technology. Either way, AC or DC, have a backup plan, invest in a reputable company with good support and return policy. I have 2 return pumps in my system, if one dies the other still runs and supplies water to the tank. I can tell when one dies, by amp reading on Apex. I then also have 3 pumps on the shelf, cold spares. .
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I have 2 return pumps in my system, if one dies the other still runs and supplies water to the tank. I can tell when one dies, by amp reading on Apex. I then also have 3 pumps on the shelf, cold spares.
Wow! An online standby AND three offline backups!?! It sounds like you have a lot more resources to apply toward backups and replacements than the average user!
I can save money by having one $50 Quiet One on the shelf as my backup AND have a three year warranty on the primary Quiet One.
(Seeing the failure coming on an amp meter may eliminate the "surprise" which is good, but it wouldn't make me feel a lot better.....too expensive to be disposable the way so many DC pumps have been so far.)
My sump is in the basement. So I feel like like I need a little more assurances, the 3 backups are due to one increase in tank size so needed a bigger pump, got a bigger AC, then switched from AC to DC to realize power savings. So, the replaced AC pumps are now cold spares,Wow! An online standby AND three offline backups!?! It sounds like you have a lot more resources to apply toward backups and replacements than the average user!
I can save money by having one $50 Quiet One on the shelf as my backup AND have a three year warranty on the primary Quiet One.
(Seeing the failure coming on an amp meter may eliminate the "surprise" which is good, but it wouldn't make me feel a lot better.....too expensive to be disposable the way so many DC pumps have been so far.)
The one thing I don't like about DC pumps, is the power supply/converter. Feels like an extra point of failure. Again, I have extras. My AC pumps were probably the worst power consumers, but i am saving power, so I don't mind springing for redundancy.
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When you learn how to read, then you can reply. I'm saving half the power over the AC pumps that I had. I admitted that my AC pumps were probably the worst consumers. Reality is, I am saving half the power over the Iwaki AC pumps I was using. Not all AC pumps are efficient, if you think they are all the same, think again. The Iwaki was 36o watts, the DCs I have each run 80 watts, I have 2. I gained redundancy and saved half the power. Seemed like a win win, and I still think so.
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