[bbleifus]

I am doing my planning for a 90 gallon reef ready tank. The sump will be the Euro-fil 125. I believe the tank has 2-1" returns. I have been reading that the rate of return should be 10 times the tank size. I have also seen that for an open system the return rate should be five times. Can anyone give me some help. I do not want to go to large becase of noise and the possiblity of a flood.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Most will say 10x is minimum abd some will say 20x is ok but 30 x is better.Personally I am going for about 22 x.To prevent some salt creep and possable leaks I am going to plumb both my returns with pvc instead of flexible tubing.I am going to use 2 return pumps that could put up to 260 watts of heat into the water they will be self priming and out of the sump water.My guy at the lfs (whom I trust as much as my x wife) says that I should get about 900 gph from my 1 inch gravity drain.Pardon my sceptisism.But on the off chance he is correct you should have no trouble getting 20x flow.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Well as it turns out he would be correct if it was a straight drop with no elbows or any air being sucked in.Bettr count on 750 to 800 gph.

[pogodzib]

I prefer to have two small return pumps (incase one fails and you don't notice right away, thus causing your main tank's temp to drop with your heaters in the sump) and have another means of circulation (closed loop or powerheads) within the main tank. The only thing that you are doing by increasing your flow rate through your sump is (possibly eliminating a couple powerheads from inside of your tank), increasing the noise from your overflow, and possibly causing a flood hazard if one of your overflows gets plugged up.

[bbleifus]

What size pumps would you suggest for a 90 gallon tank and a Euro-fil 125 sump? Would you go external or in the sump? Which would be quieter?

[Krazy]

In sump so you wont have to worry about leaks...

I use a mag 9.5 in my 90 gallon, it works very well IMO...

I use a mag 7 on my 37 gallon prop tank, its a bit to much, I had to throttle it back...

I've had good luck with mag-drive pumps...

[pogodzib]

In sump models are typically quieter than external models and you don't need to worry about leaks. The negative part is that they can add extra heat (expecially with the Mag pumps) to your tanks water.

I use a Quiet One 4000 and a large, brand unknown, powerhead for return pumps on my 125gal reef (w/ 40 gal sump) and think that that is about as much flow as I would want through the sump. Taken into account losses due to head and pumping one of them through the chiller, I would guess that I only pump about 700gpm through my sump.