Return pump for Wet/dry filter?

I am considering to buy a bigger return pump for my 150 G Wet/dry filter. It is made by Pro clear aquatics, i am currently running it with a Cap 2200( rated at 495gph with 4'of head) . I am thinking about purchasing a Mag 9.5 ? I have about 4' of head pressure and at that rate the mag puts out 800gph. The wet/dry filter is rated at max 600gph. I need some suggestions please.

 

Put a valve on the discharge of the pump. If the flow rate is too high you can always throttle it back.
Jim

 

Thats what i was thinking, also the outlet on the mag is 3/4 inch . The return hose i have is 5/8 and it only fits a 1/2 pvc connection. That would increas my head Press therfore dropping my gph anyway ( i think) But a ball valve sounds good . Thanks for the quick reply Jim.
Danny

 

Yeah you will have to get a ball valve on the output line to restrict flow or get a smaller pump. You can always put a tee on the pipe to the wet/dry and have one go directly to the sump and the other into the wet/dry tower. You can put a ball valve on the one going to the tower so you can regulate the flow into it.

Your bottleneck will be your hang-on prefilter or overflow as it may be rated for a max of 600 GPH.

 

So i guess i can just cut back on the outflow with the ball valve, that seems to be the way to go. Now would that effect the life of the pump ?

 

I'm not sure if it would reflect the life of your pump. I'm in the process of doing the same thing. I went from a Rio 2500 to a Rio HF20 for my return pump. I installed a ball valve for now, but I've ordered a larger GPH overflow box so I can leave the ball valve wide open. I did this for more water flow in my tank.

CowboyUp [smiley=cowboy.gif]

 

Where did you order the bigger overflow box from & how much did it cost? What is the rating on the new overflow box? Will it also fit the hose that was in the original overflow?

 

http://www.aquacrylics.com/aquarium_filters.htm

This is where I got mine from. No frills, no excessive price. Look around you may find a better deal. I had a good experience with them.
Jim
Also, a slight to moderate throttling of the discharge of the pump does not harm the pump or significantly reduce the life of the pump.

 

I think i am going to try to use the Mag 9.5 on the wet/dry filter return anyway. Like you said i will install a ball valve. I will try to report back on the results, im still going to use original overflow that came with the unit. It has a 1" hose conection from the overflow to the first section of the filter. I think that should be able to provide the amount of gph that the pump will pe putting out? this is the exact filter i am talking about....
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=3624

Thank you all for the reply's