First Giant Aquarium Questions

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Zanba01

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 30, 2013
12
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Tampa, FL
Good morning everyone!

I love this site and all the information that is available for me to get most of my answers. To give a backround, I have a RTC x TSC Hybrid that I'm putting into this tank until he gets to big and gets moved on to a friends pond. So I found this tank on craigslist that i just couldnt pass up. Granted I've never owned a 250 + gal tank before but I have faith thru research and due diligence i can handle it no problem.

The tank itself is 8ft x 2.5ft x 2.5ft with a stand that is roughly 8ft L x 3ft H x 2.5ft W. Right now its just a basic frame until i decide what I type of wood I want to frame it in with and build out the canopy.

The Tanks filtration is Coast to Coast built into the tank with 3 pipes for draining water into the sump that will be down below. I'm going to have someone who is more well versed in piping large filtration setups handle piping the actual filtration just so it comes out perfect. However, I need to pick out my own pump and I'm kinda lost as far as what is good/better/best.

Being that this will be a fresh water setup, as I've read, I will want my aquarium to turn over about 5 times an hour at minimum. Correct? So this leads me to believe i am needing theoretically a 2000 gph pump. Of course buying just what i need isn't smart as I dont want a pump running 100% capacity at all times right? I'm assuming these more expensive pumps have a speed control of some sort? If that holds true then maybe something around 3500 gph would fit my needs more adequately.

Now considering the answers to the above questions, what pump/brand would you suggest? Are their quieter running and/or energy efficient pumps on the market compared to others? Which are those? I know there will be some personal preference between individuals via personal past/present experience. Please share :D

Thanks for your time and responses.
 
You want at least 10X/hr turnover ideally. Pumps will have charts on them that will give you some idea what the actual GPH will be depending on the height of the tubing they're pumping. Of course being pushed through media and tubes etc will slow this down a bit in reality.

In my 220 (which is now a smaller swamp) and any other major tanks I've done, I've had good experience with magdrive pumps. But I can't say they're the best or anything, just the only real ones I've used. But no problems so far.
 
10x turnover is ideal. Your tank is ~ 370 gallons, so you would need one pump or two pumps that will move ~3700gph @ 5.5' of head. Id recommend laguna max flo pumps, very efficient and have great flow.

I use 2x laguna 2400s on my 360 giving me a bit over 3600gph turnover @ 4.5' of head. I also use an fx5 with a uv running inline.

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This was when I first got it in the house. So you can see the bare frame that I will be enclosing after filtration is handled. You can kind of make out the coast to coast filtration although it blends in with the black backround. Don't mind the open windows as they are already covered to not allow direct sunlight :D

V__AF20.JPG
 
Ultima pumps are decent! Nice pick up though bro, keep us updated

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One suggestion I had is run twin pumps a little over half the volume you want to move. Nothing worse that having a pump go down and not being able to run any of the tank.
There are several good brands of both magnetic drive and driver drive pumps that can handle the volume you need. Aquatic Eco sells several types and has the graphs so you can see volume at a specific head pressure.
 
You really dont need 10x turn over on a freshwater system. Thats more reef guys that require lots of water movement in the tank itself. 4-5x per hour turn over through the sump filter system is plenty.

I am going to be running the new RLSS DC-12000 variable speed pump on my 300 gallon. Should be in stores any day now. Variable speed control, brushless motor, ultra energy efficient. - 21st century aquarium pump
http://www.rlss.ca/#!dc-pump/vstc3=dc12000
 
I had a 560 gallon tank. It was 10 x 2.5 x 3.0. It had 2 1000 gph mag drive pumps.Freshwater with about 75 African cichlids. All fish were 2" to 6". Fed every other day. With about a 80 gallon water change every week. A simple wet/dry filter system. Never had any problems. I don't know if this info helps but I hope so.
 
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