How many pumps do I need?

[AngelLeah1981]

I purchased a 120 gallon tank and am wanting to purchase the pump and skimmer next. I want to do reef and fish with a sump that has macro algae and rock and maybe sand. I thought I had the pump figured out that I was going to get. ...around 1500 gph at 4 foot head height but then I saw where someone had said they had one pump hooked up for their return and ANOTHER ONE on the skimmer ! How many pumps do you have to have? I'm so confused. Please help. Also, I am very interested in getting a pump that uses low wattage and any suggestions would be fantastic. I have such a hard time googling it for some reason.
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THERE ARE TWO overflows.

48X24X25 - From the top of the tank to the bottom of the stand is almost 54 inches.

Are powerheads pumps? Do I only need one pump, one skimmer, and either 2 powerheads or a wave2k, a heater or chiller and thats it? If I don't have money to blow is the wave2k a waste of money or will it make my fish and animals happier?? WAVE2K!
Leah

Oh, and the reason I mentioned the skimmer is because that is part of the confusion. Someone said they needed to know what kind of skimmer I am getting before they can tell me what kind of pump to get. ?

[scubadude]

Hi AngelLeah

Powerheads are pumps too, a powerhead is a type of internal pump, I would definately go with an external pump since you have overflows and a sump. Your first step would be to start planning your sump and the dimensions you have inside your stand (that is if you want ALL your equipment concealed by the stand?!) Do you already have a sump? If so you are gonna have to figure out how you want it in your stand and how the oveflows will plumb into the sump then how you will plumb your external pump back to the tank, and one of the most trickiest parts of all this is to make it all fit and work effeciently ;) I would look into something like a ASM G2 skimmer or maybe even a ASM G3 model. The skimmer would fit inside the sump and would have its own seperate pump (the pump usually comes with the skimmer). You could use one external pump for both the tank and the skimmer but it can be a little more tricky to plumb, and if you dont know what you are doing can be alot more frustrating to setup. I would go with a sequence or iwaki pump...pretty simple you already have the flow you want 1500gph @ 4' of head heres a couple of good pumps for you

Iwaki MD 70RLT - 1500gph - Japan
or
WAHOO UNO Pump 1550 GPH

and then the skimmer

ASM - G3

All of these products can be purchased @ premiumaquatics.com which is a sponsor here on reefland. HTH

[scubadude]

Do I only need...a heater or chiller

Definately get a heater, I doubt you will need a chiller (what temp do you keep the room where the tank is gonna be?)...do you know what type of corals/inverts/fish you want to keep? This has alot to do with wether or not you need/want intense lighting. Have you already purchased your lighting for the reef tank? Warning: The lighting can get pretty expensive!

Oh yeah....I wouldnt worry about wave2k...neat gadget but an added expense and to me not what you need right now....concentrate on the meat and potatoes first ;)

[AngelLeah1981]

I would definately go with an external pump since you have overflows and a sump

I'm just trying to learn as much as I can. Why would you go with external knowing that I have 2 internal overflows and a sump?

Iwaki MD 70RLT - 1500gph - Japan
or
WAHOO UNO Pump 1550 GPH

This would be the external pump for the return AND the skimmer? What about for flow in the tank? I don't know why but I was told not to use powerheads but to use external instead. Would this be another pump? How many pumps total? ...gets confusing.

What's really terrible is I'm supposed to buy the equipment now and my husband is supposed to do the plumbing in September. Any suggestions? lol. That's a tough one probably.

Our temp is ALWAYS 69-71 year round. If I got internal pumps I would probably have to get a chiller?

This can really get stressful when you don't have any hands on experience or someone to show you things. Ok, here's one more question. sigh. I just heard about "closed loop system". Is this cheaper/more expensive in the long run or initial cost? Is this better for water quality? Does it matter what kind of fish or coral I want to decide this? I don't know what coral I want but I have an IDEA of the fish I want:
yellow faced jawfish
seahorses
ocellaris clownfish
blue jaw tilefish - (very active lives on bottom - so probably not with the seahorses, right?)
blue powder tangs
regal tang,
other tangs,
racoon butterfly fish,
Angel Fish
I realize I can't have these fish together and am also thinking about using my 75 gallon to do the seahorses. I am most in love with occelaris clownfish and blue powder tang and am aware I can't tackle this until later on...just trying to plan ahead. Also, I am developing a real problem with wild caught fish because of some horror stories I've read recently. I hope I am at least going to be able to find the BPT tank bred as I know I can find the clowns. If anyone knows of captive bred blue powder tangs PLEASE give me the link. ....or even for the regal tang (blue)... I haven't seen any of these fish captive bred except clowns.
For lighting I think I'm going to go with T5ho's. I can't remember how many were suggested to me. I have it written down at work. Some people say it's not strong enough and 3 people swear up and down and all around that they are strong enough. I don't know. I wish there was a right and wrong answer for all this stuff. Everyone says something different. It was also suggested later on to get at least one MH bulb for shimmer. Do you have any opinions on this info?

concentrate on the meat and potatoes first

LOL that's funny. My mom says that.

Oh yea, thank you so much for helping me and replying. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I've almost had a salt-water-aquarium-nervous-break down 2 times already and all I have is the TANK !!!! lol. Thanks alot scubadude

[Sarmo]

you are right about all the different advice, everybody has some. i have a pump to return water from the sump, another to run my skimmer and a third for a closed loop. i used to have 4 powerheads inside my tank for flow but i have replaced them all with a closed loop.(some peole advise to take your 120 gallons and multiply it by 5 to 10 times and that is how much flow you need in your tank, some advise even more) my tank is 500 gallons, the closed loop is 7000gph and my return pump is 3000gph which equals 10000gph in a 500gallon tank and i sometimes think i need more flow. i have SPS coral and that is what needs the flow. the fish need some but not like coral.
lighting is a big deal and can be really expensive. decide what corals, soft vs hard, and if you want an anemone for your clowns and that will help you decide what light you want. i use 400 watt metal halides for my SPS coral. i think some are using T5's with success. they make a lot less heat. i never use a heater and i'm in montana, i need a chiller but have been to cheap to buy one so i just use fans.
if you want to save on power consumption with your skimmer then you have to get a recirculating model, they use more pumps but they are much smaller than the pumps required for becketts and other spray injection skimmers. the cheapest is the airstone driven skimmers but i don't know much about them and don't plan on getting one.
it sounds like you are doing things right by looking for advice before you buy a ton of stuff. check out other peoples builds and see if you can pattern after what they did.

good luck and have fun