Which is the best design mag out there?

Return Pump / Aquarium design help?

• in the process of building a 75 Gal reef tank. I am going to use a 1 1/4'' in Durso stand pipe w/ an overflow box as the drainage, but it is an all glass tank therefore i need to add a right angle elbow and drill my hole through the back (will this cause a problem?). The same goes for the return line, I was going to use two, 3/4 in returns that would be housed in the same over flow box, and have the right angle elbow at the bottom to accommodate drilling through the back glass. For the sump, I was going to use a Aqueon Proflex sump Model 3. My only question is what size return pump should I use? The stand is hand made, and is 35'' tall ( plus the additionally 18in tank), so the pump would have to pump upwards roughly 4 1/2 (slightly less) ft to reach the return hoses....I was looking at getting a mag 9.5. But I'm not sure, any thoughts or suggestions on the design or pump size would be much appreciated! thank you for looking!

• Answer:

  1. once you determine how much water your durso design will flow, then you can finalize your return pump size. (note: maybe you'll have two of them, start with one and then add another to bring you closer to your maximum allowable flow) 2. the right angle will slow the flow of water some and may cause some noise 3. your returns do not have to be drilled in the tank, don't do extra unnecessary work, especially drilling holes in the tank, run them over the back instead, and they could probably be 1/2 inch when they get up to the top of the tank. (probably, depends on flow/pump size and amount of outlets. see note below) 4. if you don't want circulation pumps in the tank, then 4 or 5 return lines with multiple outlets, and two or three pumps on a wavermaker timer would be good. BUT this is limited by your durso design and it's flow rate. You probably want about 20-25 times the tank volume in flow around the tank total and may choose to use in tank circulation pumps instead. (there's some nice ones, but they're expensive) 5. most of the available pumps will pump 4 foot just fine, but always at a reduced flow rate, you'll have to compare the manufacturers "head loss"/flow rate, chart NOTE: all this depends on factors relating to your exact situation EDIT: I looked up the sump you've chosen. It's bound to be made as cheaply as they could, so inspect it carefully and treat it gently so you don't have any breakage. I'm not sure it's big enough to do what I was suggesting, with the multiple pumps, but it looks like an ok sump.