Pump advice

[nikkichick]

210 gallon (new setup) dual overflows (Aqueon tank) Allglass Megaflow #4 sump in stand. I plan for SPS/LPS/Fish.

My concerns are Noise, power consumption, and enough flow are all concerns.

Went to J&L (LFS) to buy Reeflo Dart pump and saw that the Barracuda was only $50 more. They advised me to get the Barracuda to be sure I had enough flow.

I got it home, and now I'm concerned because the 2 overflows are rated for 600GPH each, totaling 1200GPH drainage. The Barracuda will push 3500GPH at my 5ft head height. I realize I can reduce the flow with a ball valve, but if I don't will this cause overflowing? Am I waisting my money/power buying more GPH that I need?

In the return plumbing there will be a single "Y" and 2 x 90 degree angles. Drains are 1" returns are 3/4" each. Input and output on Barracuda are both 1.5".

I do want my pump to be powerful enough as I want to eliminate powerheads, but have lots of flow from the returns.

LFS advised that the Dart would be the "minimum" I would want to use. I have looked around online and found plenty of people who seem to be fine with the Dart in this size of tank.

Any comments? Advice?
Anyone have the Barracuda on a 210 or smaller? How is it?
Let me know please.

Nikkichick

[leducreef]

with those typ of overflows the smaller pump would have been fine
you could always put a ball valve on the return line to slow it down but i think slowing down the pump is hard on them ?

[whiteice669]

tee off the pump for other things, reactors and such

[The Codfather]

I push almost 5000 gph through my 150 gal, although most of it is through a closed loop. I use a super dart gold on my closed loop (4300 gph) and a little giant (730 gph) for my overflow, sometimes this doesn't seem like enough. I should have listened to Kevin and got the pump one size up, it's easy enough to throttle the pump down or to add a tee to supply other equipment. In my opinion, bigger is always better with a pump, dial it down a bit, sometime down the road, a little extra gph is a good thing. Just my thought,
Bob

[mark]

Have a Barracuda in a fish room but no way would I consider it for the same room as the display. Way too loud.

Got a Dart below the tank on a CL, no real issues there for sound levels.

Do think about how you want to get your flow. Nothing wrong with just the 1200gph (or less) from the overflows but then using CL or hi flow power heads within the tank. All the displays turnover doesn't have to go through the sump.

[Binare]

Are you gonna have a refugium in your sump?

[Lance]

with those typ of overflows the smaller pump would have been fine
you could always put a ball valve on the return line to slow it down but i think slowing down the pump is hard on them ?



Actually, dialing back the pump is not hard on it; at least with the Barracuda. As long as the intake to the pump is unrestricted, the return line can be reduced by a gate valve or ball valve. The manual even states that this will lead to longer pump life.

[Lance]

Oh, forgot to mention. The Barracuda is quite noisy. Mine is in a closet so it doesn't bother me, but if noise is an issue I would recommend the Dart.

[nikkichick]

Thanks all.
I think the dart is the way to go.
For noise reasons if nothing else.

:mrgreen:

[wolf_bluejay]

I have a 210 with the same configuration on the overflow. I had a snapper and when the bearings went I replaced it with a dart. I'm quite happy with the dart (noise and flow). As for the returns, I wanted to make sure I didn't flood the house and have the wife kill me. So -- I ran the 1.5" return over this side and around the top of the tank as the 2 3/4 returns will NOT be enough for a barracuda.
Then the 2 1" are a durso setup with the 3/4 setup as an "emergency" overflow line.

once I had it up and running I did a bit of testing. The 1" will handle more than 600 gph. In fact I plugged up the other bulkheads just t osee what would happen. As soon as the air hole on the top of the durso end up under water. The pipe goes into a full siphon and can handle almost all the flow of the dart.

The biggest problem that you will have is not the size of the bulkhead, but the amount of the opening in the overflow edge of the megaflow I had to open mine up a bit as if I open up the dart all the way, it almost flows over the top of the megaflow.

Overall -- The dart is enough flow and I don't run any powerheads or anything -- in fact my dart also runs my phosban and any everything else as well. I upgraded from a 90, and love the bigger tank. Of course this time I have a saltwater mixing tank, and plumbed a line directly to my drain for water changes. Buckets and 200+ gals of tank just don't mix in my books.