[cubalz]

Good afternoon! I am in the process of setting up a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium and need some advise about return pumps.
My system is as follows:
Amiracle Maxi Reef 100 Sump w/ 400 gph overflow
Aqua Ultraviolet 10w UV Sterilizer
Lifegard heater module

The system is hard plumbed with roughly 4 1/2 ft of 3/4" Sch 40 and has 7-90 degree els incorporated in it.

I am figuring that I need a pump that will pump about 500 gph at 11 1/2 ft of head (4 1/2 + 7 els= 11 1/2)I am looking at the Gen X MK 4 pump, will that one work for me or does anyone have a better recommendation? I am looking for something that will fit my needs, isn't overly expensive and has a fairly low power consumption.
Any help would be really appreciated,
John

[Reefland]

Hi cubalz and Welcome to Reefland!

I like Mag Drive pumps for submersable return pumps. They are quiet, reliable and farily inexpensive in comparison to some other pumps. It sounds like a Mag 12 with a ball valve on the return side would work great for your application. A Mag 9 would probably be enough for you but the 12 would allow you to push it to it's limit.

What plans do you have for this tank? Are you setting up a Fish-Only aqaurium or do you plan to place coral in there as well?

Regards,
Scott Z.

[cubalz]

It is going to be a FOWLR tank for the first year or so then I am planning on going to add some corals and the like. I was thinking of Mag drive but I am going to mount the pump externally out of the sump bulkhead fitting and I thought that a different pump might be in order- I have heard that Mags are a great sub pump but that they have some leakage issues if used externally. Any thoughts??

[Reefland]

The thing about putting Mags external is the connections to the pump are subceptable to cracking since the housing is a pretty fragile plastic. I don't use any external pumps on my system so I can't make any solid recommendations but you might look into Ampmasters or Iwaki's, both get high ratings on the boards.

Scott Z.