water pump size 180 or 240

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
R

rhinod56

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 2, 2006
618
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Illinois
Well I've narrowed my new tank down to either a 180, or 240..
The filtration setup I believe I am going with requires me to use a water pump. Question being. What kind of turnover rate (gph) should I be looking at for a community setup?
 
If I want to run a UV filter in line that suggusts no more than 1500, could I get by with a 1800 assuming headloss, and maybe just a lil more than recommended for the uv?
 
rkc772 said:
got my 180 tank running on mag drive 18 (1800gph) and with Aqua UV sterilizer 25W. overflow box built-in on the tank. running great just need to finish cycling the tank.:)
Click to expand...

Everyone will have diff opinions. And probably all correct. They guy who said 2000gph is correct, but I think that might be overkill in your case because you said a "community tank". Do you mean small fish? Planted?

Depending on dimensions of the tank, you would have a whirlpool of little fishies and plants. If you had BIG fish, and no plants, would be great.


I have a 200galln weird shape (3x3x3) and I run 1100 gph pump (wet dry filter). and it is more than enough. I would NEVER run such little volume through a tank with large predatory fish... but this is a heavily planted tank with small fish and weird dimensions, so its plenty... any more and it would just be too much flow.

In your case, your tank will be longer, so I would say 1500 gph or slightly lower is fine... will work for you fish and your UV and allow you some plants.
 
hmmm
thanks for all the input... decisions decisions
some smaller fish, some larger... only plants are fake ones..hahah
 
FYI..... You don't need (or necessarily want) a great deal of flow through a "normal" wet/dry filter. Also, the size of your drains will determine how big a pump you can get. You need to be able to drain more than the pump can return.
 
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