[AngelLeah1981]

I am needing a pump for a 120 gallon aquarium and I need it to be powerful enough so that I won't have to buy another one later but also keep in mind I'm not wanting to waste money either. lol. This is a tank that is not set up yet but I am wanting to put fish and reef in it. One lfs is suggesting I get one that pumps 1400-1500 gallons per hour and I don't know the price or brand but I'm sure it's ridiculous just like all his other equpiment prices; he is going to call me and let me know today..... and the other lfs suggests a GenX that pumps 1800-2000 gallons per hour and the cost is $120. Is this a good deal? This store usually has good prices but has other issues. lol. Do I need a better brand? Does it matter if it's internal or external? I think he may have said it's internal but I can't remember. How many gph do you suggest and what are your thoughts on this? Also, the lfs with high prices says the GenX only has 6000 which pumps 1600 and a 8500 that pumps 2250 and said the 8500 was probably what the other lfs store was talking about and his price is $199.00. He said this pump can be used as internal or external but he would use it internally because he would be afraid of it overheating ?? Any thoughts and suggestions on this would be GREAT.
Thanks.


2 internal overflows
30-40 gallon sump
probably going to do a fuge (macro algae and rock in sump)

[Ratpack]

It may just be me, but $120 for a pump that pumps up to 2000gph seems too good to be a quality pump but someone else may have more experience with that pump. What do you plan to run with this pump? Are there going to be other water movement pumps in the tank? If this is just for the sump return, you only need about 600-1200gph. If it were me, I would get something like the Little Giant 4-MDQX-SC ($135 online) to run the sump return and then perhaps a Sequence pump for a closed loop.

[AngelLeah1981]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...m/PIC-0337.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...m/PIC-0336.jpg

48X24X25
I was told the next piece of equipment to buy after the tank would be the pump so I'm just assuming this is for the water that goes from the tank to the sump and back to the tank again. Here's 2 pics of the tank and the holes that are almost as big as a tennis ball. There is a plastic "box like thing" on both sides for the internal overflows each with two holes. ...just thought this info might be helpful.

[Ratpack]

OK, so it is the return pump you are looking for. So you really only need about 600-1000gph through the sump. I like the Little Giant 4-MDQX-SC. It will do between 900-1200 at a 4 foot head and if your tank is on a stand, that isabout what you will see. You can also throttle it back a bit with a ball valve to dial it into what you really need.

As for as my post about a closed loop, I was getting ahead of where you are now. However, you may want to start thinking about circulation in the tank. You will most likely want more flow inside the tank in order to keep the corals you want. To do this, you need either powerheads of some type in the tank, which I hate because they are an eye sore IMO, or a closed loop. A closed loop is an external mounted pump that pulls water from the tank and pumps it right back in via outlets either drilled into the tank or plumbed over the top.

[AngelLeah1981]

I forgot to mention this info:
From the top of the tank to the bottom of the stand is almost 54 inches.

I was thinking of going with the Wave2K. Would this take the place of the things you are mentioning? I will only need one pump for the tank, right?

[Ratpack]

Kind of hard to answer that question without knowing exactly what you plan to keep in the tank. SPS like more flow than softies. Is this a bare bottom tank or will it have sand on the bottom? I looked at the wave2k and wasn't impressed. I think you can do it a lot cheaper. The return pump will add flow to the tank but you really don't want a tremendous amount of flow through your sump so you would need to add some other in tank circulation. I would look at the return pump and either 1 or 2 Koralia 4's. Dependig on where you get everything, you would be looking at about $250 for everything except plumbing. That would give you about 3600gph total which is about 30X turnover, pretty good for most corals I think.

[AngelLeah1981]

will definatly have sand
want fish and anemones and difficult animals not sure which ones yet

I'm so confused. Why do you think I need so much gph ? Thanks for your help.

I'm going to put macro algae and rock in the sump eventually.

[Ratpack]

Essentially, more flow allows things to not settle and brings nutrients to the corals which cannot move to get the stuff they need. As I mentioned SPS need more flow than LPS or softies. But mostly for me, the higher flow keeps things suspended in the water column so it can be filtered out and not settle on the rocks and corals. My current tank has about 30x overturn and it still requires me to blow the rocks off with a turkey baster to keep the detritus from settling and causing algae issues. I don't think there is a real science to it, but I believe most people will recommend 20x-30x turnover as a minimum. The 75g I am putting together now will have about 60x turnover. I don't want anything settling anywhere. But this tank will also be more SPS dominant.

[120gallons]

Check out panworld pumps...for good quality and price.

[AngelLeah1981]

Thank you all !!!