Pump Question

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RobE

RobE

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 17, 2008
440
0
46
Seminole, FL
Im setting up a new 180gal tank and was looking at some pumps to run my wet/dry. I was looking at the Little giant 4-MDQX-SC and the Mag Drive 1800. They are both similar on flow, power consumption and price. I was just wondering if anyone had any experiance with these two and cared to share there opinions. Thanks.
 
IMO that's way too much flow first you need to make sure the overflows can handle it at head height and second for wet dry's 3-5x flow is sufficient. For your 180 I would just pick up 2 mag 5's or 2 mag 7's with the ck code off of D F&S for 100 dollars. That way there will be almost no chance of the both pumps failing and leaving your tank filterless. But if you insist on going with a higher flow both pumps are great, they're very reliable and parts are easy to find, but I've heard that the higher models of little giants and mag drives are loud.
 
The tank is drilled with dual 1" overflows. I am going to be putting pbass in the tank so i figured more the better on filtraton. The head will be at about 5' so the dual mag 7 would be at about 840 gph. Is that enough turnover for being heavly stocked? I do like the redundancy on the pumps though i am always worried about the pump going out losing my fish.
 
RobE;2738933; said:
Does anyone have any experience with the Pentair self-priming pumps? here

I did a search and didnt find anything.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I used one of those Seahorse pumps for a short while. It worked fine, but used way too much power for the flow it delivered. Its also kinda loud. And I use rubber sleaves on both ports for vibration isolation as well as rubber mounts and mounted in a 2 layer box for sound control.
Also, the .75 model I had had to be manually wired with 8guage wire to the motor. Not a big deal, but still. Was extra work and expense to run an extra 8guage from my junction box. (i already had lines ran, just wasn't proper guage, so had to run another)

The self priming was neat though, but not missed when plumbing the new non-priming pump correctly with a check valve and a prefill port I installed in front of the pump.

I "downgraded" to a lower volume Dart pump, more expensive, but was much more efficient for flow it gives. It paid for itself in power savings after only a couple months compared to the Seahorse.
 
Thanks for the input. I thought that the power consumtion was a little high.:screwy:I definately dont want it to be that loud either, ill probably go a different route.
 
usch0092-1.jpg

I use a Mg Dr 1200 on a 150 gal, been running for almost 20 years, 24/7 with 2 replacements of impellers. and
motafry0132.jpg

I use the Mag 2400 on a bank of 5 tanks, with riverine species from Central America and Madagascar, that like a bit of current, been up and running almost 10 years.
I like them both, although the pumps hum a bit, but because my tanks are in a basement it's not a problem.
tues2808015.jpg
 
Little giant pumps are awesome, almost bullet proof pumps. I've not had much experience with mag drive pumps, but I've never found a submersible that I liked.
If I were you, I'd go with the little giant. Or better yet, check out some reeflo pumps. They're more efficient and much much quieter.
 
Reeflo FTW... I feel like I am repeating myself, but they have EXTREMELY high quality american made motors, and they have A+++++++ customer service. I would buy direct through them though because the guy who owns the company sometimes gives discounts for no reason whatsoever.
 
ReeFlo is also intruding a new line of pumps and are currently looking for testers. They are selling the pumps at a huge discount.

http://www.reeflopumps.com/

They have the BEST customer service in the industry by far!!!
And American made components to boot.
 
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