Anyone using any of these pumps ?

[nelson4u]

I posted on this subject yesterday, but would like to get more input on water pumps. I am looking for a very quiet pump to run a 120 gallon FO tank in a home theater room.
It seems that all the very silent pumps are centrifugal and will heat up your tank water. I live in Phoenix and in the summer my house is right at 80 degrees so I can't have a pump that is going to heat tank a lot. I need advice from anyone that can tell me which magnetic drive pump is quietest, or if there is a silent pump out there that will not heat up tank ? I need to pump about 800 GPH @ 5' head.
I like the dolphin Ampmaster 2700 and 3000, but it has 1 1/2" in and out. Would I be able to use a Nu Clear canister filter, and UV sterilizer in line with 3/4 fittings or use 1" plumbing up to the filter and UV and step down to 3/4" at the inlet And outlet of filter and UV ? Also wondering about noise level of Blue line 40 HD compared to Little Giant or Gen X ? Can anyone give advice on pumps like Rainbow Lifeguard Quiet One, Velocity Silent from Custom Sea Life, Iwaki, Blueline, Gen X. I need to know how they perform ,and I also need it quiet as possible. Thank you for your time, MIKE

 

[Brisc0]

I use a mag 9.5 which is lifting 800GPH @ 5ft of head on my tank. It makes absolutely 0 noise. If it makes contact with the glass a slight humm/buzz is heard, if a piece of clear aquarium tubing is placed between the pump and the glass that goes away. Its a great pump. To get the max flow out of any return pump your going to need to use 1.25 - 2 inch pipe IMO. I have 2" pipe on my mag 9.5 and it works well.

 

[TheMadNucleus]

Mike,

I am currently using the Ampmaster 3000 - excellent pump. As you mentioned heat exchange is always a big problem for some pumps - especially the magnetic drive types (Like the Mag series). The reason being that the water comes in close contact with the portion of the pump that houses the coils that generate the magnetic flux to spin the rotor. Not only that but for submersibles you efefctively put that whole assembly in your sump and your tank/sump end up being a cooling system for your pump

I am very surprised by Brisc0's comments but I am sure he is speaking from experience. My own experience is that the MAG drive pumps are very noisy. In fact I currently use one to pump Water change water from my holding tank into my tank at water changes - and does that thing HUMmmmm. None the less - the ampmaster is very, very quiet - you will not hear it running when your standing in the room. One thing I hate about some tanks is that consistent Hummm - can't be fun for the fish either. The trickling water sound of an overflow - that doesn't seem to bother me, actually sort of a pleasing sound.

While the Ampmaster is very quiet it is also thermo-isolated so very little temperature transfer from the motor's coils. As for the 1.5 inch plumbing - use 1.5" coming from your sump then, if you are running a UV and a canister each at 3/4, split the 1.5" output to 2 3/4" outputs and send one to the Canister and one to the UV. Recall that the UV rate should likely be lower than the full ability of the ampmaster 3000 anyway, in order to maximize its kill rate (i.e. you want an effective dwell time).

Using this approach you will maximize the flow rate of the Ampmaster which I think is somewhere in the 3000+ gph at 0 feet head range. Figure in your application you might get about 1500 GPH using the above approach (I approximated back pressure due to plumbing, canister, UV, height, etc.)

One other nice thing about the ampmaster is that as you throttle it back, i.e. apply pressure as a result of it's application, it actually uses less power.

See the post in the forum Satwater, fish only named "Water Pump, Submersible"

If you do consider the Mag Pumps this is the MFG site:
http://supremepumps.com/Danner_pumps_p.htm
Odd - they rave about all of the great features of these pumps but never say they're quiet.


HTH

Tom

 

[Brisc0]

The mag is the first return pump I have ever used. I either got lucky with this one, or the fact that its sitting on a bed of clear tubing has cut the noise out.

 

[Bearfan]

My Mag pump is quite as long as it is not against the glass.

 

[ellisz]

I started out with a RIO 2800SS and it was VERY loud. When I asked for quiet pumps, I was always told Mag pumps were quiet. I have a Mag 7 and a Mag 5 in my sump for my 75 gal tank and I have a Mag 5 in my Wet/dry filter on my 29 gal tank. I would say are pretty quiet. Silent is a bit of a stretch but they are quiet. My HOB overflow is louder than my mag 5 on the 29 gal

 

[nelson4u]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will not be using a sump so a submersible pump is not needed. I have a closed loop system going from tank trough canister filter and UV sterilizer and back to tank. I am using a undergravel filter.

While the Ampmaster is very quiet it is also thermo-isolated so very little temperature transfer from the motor's coils. As for the 1.5 inch plumbing - use 1.5" coming from your sump then, if you are running a UV and a canister each at 3/4, split the 1.5" output to 2 3/4" outputs and send one to the Canister and one to the UV. Recall that the UV rate should likely be lower than the full ability of the ampmaster 3000 anyway, in order to maximize its kill rate (i.e. you want an effective dwell time).

TOM,
If I used the Ampmaster like this should I use the part that Dolphin sells that attaches to the 1 1/2 " output of pump and splits into eight 3/4" hose barbs ? By only using 2 of the 3/4 outlets will I still get enough water flow ? Maybe you had another idea in mind ? I like this pump, but want to be sure not to restrict it too much. Could I use 2 of the 3/4 outlets and tee together at inlet of canister filter, and another 2 of the 3/4 outlets and tee together at UV sterilizer, or would this still give me the same flow as using a single 3/4 outlet to filter and another 3/4 outlet to UV ? MIKE

 

[TheMadNucleus]

Mike,

For this type of application - where one is trying to loose as little head pressure and flow as possible, I typically use Wye fittings instead of Tee fittings. The reasoning is intuitive. The Problem however is finding appropriately sized Wye fittings as most are used for drainage. However, here is a link that supplies a very suitable Wye fitting for your App.

http://www.mhrv.com/detail.asp?item=SF-5822

It is 1.5" all around but you should mate its single open end to the 1.5" output of the Ampmaster then reduce the two outputs on the other side to 2 3/4 inch outputs.

I would not really recommend the multi feed provided by Dolphin and the reason that I do not is that I am sure it adds a considerable amount of friction. I wishe they had a 2 3/4" spider connection (they one I think with 6 1/2" connections but that is pretty useless IMO).

If you use 2 3/4" outlets then Tee them back to a single 3/4" then I'm afraid you will be shooting yourself in the foot This is due to the fact that the back pressure of a total system of fluid dynamics is predominantly based on the area in the system with the greatest restriction.

BTW - those Nu-Clears look really good. Now I'm sad that I am using Ocean Clears on one of my tanks (I had to retro fit it to plumb it at 1"). And how come your NU CLears are not 1" plumbed???

http://purflo.us/PFD_nuclear.cfm

HTH

Tom

 

[loganj]

While I haven't used a Dolphin pump, the Blueline pumps are one of the quietest external magnetic drive pumps available. I can say from experience that they are a bit quieter than the Little Giant. Just be sure that you get a pump that is pressure rated since you're going to be using it for a canister filter. Not all of them are. I would put a valve inline before the UV no matter what pump I used. I think with the big Dolphin pump, even if you reduced to 3/4", you'll still have too much flow for the UV to operate at max efficiency. The valve will allow you to fine tune the flow and shut it off when you need to do maintenence on the unit.

 

[TheMadNucleus]

Yep - agreed on the UV and flow rate, I mentioned that earlier. Depending on your UV size and type, the dwell time is of critical importance. That's why I had mentioned that the AmpMaster's flow rate is likely too fast anyway and that you need to split the line anyhow.

The Ampmaster is definitely quiter then the Blue Line HD series and uses much less energy for the same flow rate. What they claim on their site is true. I can tell you that from experience. I have seen the Bluelines in operation and they are quiet but if you are in the room where they are running, you will here them as a slight hum. You will not here the Ampmaster, unless you get with in a few feet of it.

Tom

 

[nelson4u]

Thanks Tom and Logan,
Tom I don't have any of this equiptment yet. I am trying to plan everything out before I buy. I loved the link you sent of Nu Clear, especially what was behind the filter . I feel like a real idiot because I was assuming the filter was 3/4, now I realize it is 1". Thanks for pointing that out. I see Dolphin has Tee to attach to pump with (2) 1" outputs http://www.championlighting.com/e/e...=/Products/productinfo.html&item=main:dolput_ I think with that I can use all 1" and just reduce where it goes into UV which is 3/4". I was planning to use a ball valve before UV. Do you think I could use this tee on the input of pump and have 1" coming down from the two undergravel connections ? MIKE

 

[TheMadNucleus]

Mike,

NP on the suggestions. Also thx in return for the link to that tee - I haven't seen one of those and I am always on Champion's site

Seems that it would be fine to run the tee for the input as well as the ouput. The restriction in the flow would be negligble, only a little due to the fact that you are introducing a tee. I wouldn't have much hesitation doing that. I'm assuming you would then be bringing down 2 1" feeds. But I would not use an Undergravel (I think that's what you were suggesting). And my preference would be an overflow with a sump which feeds into the Nu-clears.

BTW - I really like those Nu-Clears - they are really great for post sump filteration. I.e. let the sump collect the water via Overflow (skimming) then pump it through these things and you could support one huge bio-load. I'd recommend loading one of them with 1 to 3 litres of Eheim Ehifasubstrat
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=24569;category_id=1923;pcid1=1965;pcid2=

This stuff has a huge amount of surface area. In addition the particulate filters by Nu-Clear are going to take any free-floating particles out ('water polishing') - and the media is washable.

Very cool.

Good Luck.

Tom