Need advice and direction
I don't want to be an alarmist or anything, and I certainly don't want to take say anything to take away any business from J&L, but CPR overflows have one helluva a bad reputation for losing syphon. Go on ReefCentral or Reefs.org and you'll see that they're not even close to one of the most reliable overflow boxes designed.
Lifereef makes quality, well designed overflow boxes, and if memory serves me correctly that's what Bruce (Silverfish) has on his tank. He modified the drain on it with a Stockman overflow to quieten down the inherent noise of overflowing water, but as far as I know he's never had a problem with the overflow (other than the fact that they're kind of large and obtrusive, but so is every other hang on overflow.)
In addition, the black acrylic on the CPR overflows is a good idea in theory, however, most of the people I've talked to who had the black models regretted purchasing them because the black acrylic makes it difficult to see if there's anything obstructing the flow of water.
Also, are you including friction loss in your calculation of head pressure? All of those pumps have their pro's and con's. MAG pumps add an appreciable amount of heat to the water column whether submerged or plumbed in line. Little Giant pumps are just about the noisiest pump you can buy, and the Gen-X pump is fan cooled, which may make them a little noisy (less so than the Little Giant), but you'll be happy it runs cooler when summer rolls around. Dollar for dollar the MAG pumps are probably the best bet, but if it was me, I'd be tempted to go with the Gen-X (although it doesn't match up well with the flow rate of the overflow you're intending to buy, but if you change your mind about the overflow then the flow rates may match up better.)
[ 23 January 2002: Message edited by: Canadian ]</p>
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