Pump recommendations?

[chirohorn]

I've got a wet dry filter that needs to go on a 135 gallon planted discus tank. The overflow box has a 800 GPH flow rate. How much GPH do I need out of an external pump & which would you recommend?

[Carol_Roberts]

I don't know . . . try Randall or cosmo

[dishpanhands]

i was told once that you need to get your water across the filter four times an hour so you need atleast 550 gph....i would always recommend that you get a good magnetic drive they make them to go in the sump or set out side the sump..i run one both ways

[Cosmo]

I'm by no means an expert on this since I'm just setting one up for my breeder tanks. I did however, post a similar question a few weeks ago and got some great replys and helpful information. Sergey posted a link to a website that actually gives you a spreadsheet that does the calculations for you, and Ryan (DKarc) posted a flow curve.. interesting thing was both led to the same conclusion :)

You can find both of these at http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=42091

My application is somewhat different, but this may help. One concern you don't want to lost sight of is the turbulance the return water may cause since Discus prefer more peaceful environs.. and 550 gal/hr would creat quite a bit of turbulance. Spraybars are good at dispersing the jet stream into more tolerable flows so how you output it makes a difference as well ..

Hope this helps somewhat

Jim

[kaceyo]

Hi Chirohorn,
You will need a pump that puts out aprox 400 to 500 gph at aprox 4.5 feet head. The only pumps I,ve had experience with are March, Iwaki (both external) and ViaAqua (submersable). I've had no problems with any of them. Keep in mind that wet/dry filters are not allways the best for planted tanks as the trickle action will drive large amounts of CO2 out of the water, which is undesireable in planted tanks. HTH,

Kacey

[dishpanhands]

one more thing to think about external pumps if they leak were will it leak ..if you use a pump in the sump if it leaks its in the sump....sump pumps add heat more then external ones do..and i do use spray bars on all of my tanks..get a pump that does bout 550 gph low head pressure ..you want to pump volume and no pressure and 4.5 feet is low pressure.

B.T.W Cosmo the table on your link sizes it at about 550 GPH.. ;)

[Moon]

Mine is a 300 gph submersible for a wet/dry filter for my 125g. I think a wet/dry need a slow trickle flow and not large volume. I had 35 Tropheus in this tank and they are as fussy about H2OQ as discus. I am in the process of converting this tank to all discus and I propose to use the same filtration.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Chiro,
I ran a Mag5 on a very similar setup. A 120 planted Discus tank with a wet/dry filter. It was the perfect flow. Mind you I traveled through a Co2 reactor and a UV sterilizer as well.

[Howie_W]

I've got a wet dry filter that needs to go on a 135 gallon planted discus tank. The overflow box has a 800 GPH flow rate. How much GPH do I need out of an external pump & which would you recommend?

It really depends upon how quick of a flow rate you want. The Mag5 Pete mentioned is 500GPH, and I believe their next model up is 700 GPH, so anything in this range should work fine.


Howie

[RandalB]

Go for a Mag 7 or 9.5 with plumbing either should work w/o exceeding your overflow. You can also plumb in a ball valve to choke the flow back w/o damaging the pump, if it seems there is too much water movement.. They are also inexpensive and can be used internal or external...

RandalB