Pump for small tank
 

I am looking for a pump for my sump, its a 25g tank with a 10g sump,
Mostly softies and LPS but i probably will eventually want to try some SPS out but not in the main plan of things... yet.
I would like as quiet pump as possible as the setup is in my livingroom,
I was going towards using a Mag-Drive Model 350 but would that be too much flow in a 25? the bottom of the sump is about 2.5-3ft to the top of the tank.

you can always use a valve to cut the flowdown

For an Internal I'd recommend an Eheim 1250
for an external I'd say BlueLine HD 30 [590 gph @ 0 ft]

try a maxijet 1200 they flow @ 295 gph @ 0 ft of head 3ft of head shouldnt give you a problem and they are really quiet IME shouldnt be much more than40.00 for one :wink:

The MJ would give you a piddle at best, powerheads don't do great against head pressure. I've always found the Mags a little noisy, I'd look at the Ehiem or a Quiet One 1200. If you want a cheap option the Rio 1100 would do fine.

Try this tool out:

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

i have a rio 32 hf and its pretty loud but for the money im satisfied i rely on powerheads for most of my flow requirements the return pump shouldn't need to be real powerful. now if i had known that before i bought the 32 hf things would be alot quieter around my tank:neutral: but for a 25 gallon you would want to keep your pump pretty small in order to keep the temperature down

Try a mag 2, that what im using for a near identical setup except 4' of head. Shoulld give you close to 5x turnover in your sump which is more than enough, plus you shouldn't have to throttle it back, which would put extra strain on the pump or more heat into the water.