Need advice..Best energy efficient pump to use?

1271 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Zigis, Mar 22, 2012

Jessemac

Discussion Starter · Mar 21, 2012

I am at a bit of a stand still right now. I am working on tying two tanks together; my current 90 mixed reef and adding a 57 gal seahorse tank. I purchased a Sicce 5.0 for a closed loop on the seahorse tank (still working the details out) and have a Mag 9.5 for the return to both tanks with somewhere around 600-700gph after head loss. I am wondering if I should buy another Sicce 5.0 or a different pump. I want energy efficiency, while getting good flow and minimal heat production. Looking for about 400-500gph return to both tanks. Below is the setup. What are your thoughts?

the two tanks will be sitting in a corner with about 3 feet distance between them. I will work on a drawing in the morning. The 57gal will be sitting on the 40 inch stand that the sump/ fuge will be in; for a total height 61 inches and the distance to the top of the 90 sits about 60 inches tall. The sump return will be on the left of the stand so it is closed to the 90. Below is a rough image of what I am trying to explain. Any and all input welcome. Thank you.

Blue Line: is Drain Line
Red Line: is Return Line
Orange Line Double ended arrow: Distance

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katymunoz

· #2 · Mar 21, 2012

I would look on marinedepot.com to
See the write ups on the pumps. I'd look at a maxi jet, because I think they are more energy efficient and can still do your amount of water flow, if it was over 1000 gph then i don't think maxi jets go that high. Though I mentioned reading some write ups because on most websites now they list the watts of each model. It would be a pain to look at each individually but if you wanted to just compare a few it won't take that long.

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firsttime

· #3 · Mar 21, 2012

eheim 1260 or 1262 might be good options.

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egghead857

· #4 · Mar 21, 2012

I have a reef octopus 1300 gph pump rin on about 60w and its quite... If your splitting the flow that might work..

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iyachtuxivm

· #5 · Mar 21, 2012

I have 2 waterblasters and won't buy one again. The wb7000 quits on a random basis and my wb10000 is putting out about half of what it did 6 months ago both are less then a year old . I guess that is normal according to their tech support and nothing is wrong with it."They just take a while to adjust to head pressures" Also the rated flows they posted on their web site until about a week ago were for a pump running at 240v ofcoarse it didn't say that anywhere. Id go Sicce all the way. Maybe not as quiet but they have been around longer have a better track record and if you buy them from an authorized dealer 5 year warranty.

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Zigis

· #6 · Mar 21, 2012

Pump

One large external pump will work best. Pan world/ Gen X something along that line they have way more flow than any mag or submersable pump and power use is around 130 watts were a mag 9.5 is 93 watts and you would need two. A couple T's and ball valves and it would run everything.
Good Luck

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stevo4535

· #7 · Mar 21, 2012

Hands down Tunze 1073.050 Silence variable speed return pump.

The great thing about this pump is that is a variable speed, so you can fine tune your flow from 200gph up to 800, quiet as hell, and energy efficient.

Here is a spec link
TUNZE GmbH High-Tech Aquarium Technology: Produktdetails[prodid]=1073.050

There is two chip sets you get with the pump a 18V and a 24V. If you run wide open with the 24V chip is @ 43W

eheim 1260 @ 65 W
eheim 1262 @ 80 W
Reef octo @ 60 W

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spartyblaze

· #8 · Mar 21, 2012

+1 on the external recommendation. IMO - if you have the room, it's just such a better value, dependable and powerful pump because of the mechanics - and also can give you the reactor option in the future if/when you decide you want to go with inline reactors, add a frag tank, etc.

I use an Iwaki, It works fine, I'm not sure on the power consumption but I do think there are more efficient externals.

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rmalone

· #9 · Mar 21, 2012

On in sump pumps look at the atb stuff and if your pockets are super deep look at the red dragons. I run an atb flowstar 1500, low power draw, super quiet and very nice build quality, I have about 2.5 yrs on mine no problems.

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soverjas

· #10 · Mar 21, 2012

Ehiem, Sicce and Mag are all good pumps at pretty reasonable prices. I would rate them in the same order I have written from my experience. based on heat, energy and noise being the factor. In each of those areas I think the ehiem is a better value.

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Jessemac

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 22, 2012

Thank you all for the posts. Greatly appreciated. would have been on sooner, but I was feeling pretty rough Tuesday night and after work, I came home, had to rearrange couple corals, fed the fishes and crashed. Woke up at 2230 last night, crazy!

I spent a lot of time researching online the past few days and that is why I bought the Sicce 5.0. Only two authorized dealers were Key's and Pruess. So I made a road trip up to Key's the other day before work. They only had 1 in stock, otherwise I might of bought two of them. Then I started thinking. Maybe there would be something better available. I also looked at the Ehiem 1262 but, it looked as if the head pressure would drop it down to less that 700gph. I guess all I really need is about 300gph from each Display tank. I dont want more that 800-1000 going through my sump. Thinking more on the lines of 800 max.

As for one external. I'm not sure how I would hook that up running it as a return to both displays and the closed loop spray bar for the seahorse tank. I did look into that, and was considering going with a Pan world pump being the one of the engineers for Iwaki is the maker of Panworld. They seem like quality pumps at a decent price. I was also looking at the Tunze Sillence Pro pump 1073.110. Initially the price threw me off for one pump. and not sure how I would hook it all up with one pump, same as the Panworld. but, one pump with the same flow as two for the same price and probably less wattage would be nice. Again, any thoughts would be appreciated. It is hard to explain even with the drawing as to how this system is going to work.

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Zigis

· #12 · Mar 22, 2012

Im running a pan world px100x-x 1270 ghp and was ready to pull it off my system because my over flow could not keep up. I put a T on the return side and a ball valve and routed it to my skimmer. One pump and done.

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