pump recommendations anyone

Hello, I'm a frequent lurker here at 3reef. Recently I inherited a 75 gallon tank which I am going to use to upgrade my current 55 gal abomination. I will be putting in a 33 gal sump with this new tank (didn't have one before), so I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a good pump. I don't think I'll be able to afford a redundant system at this point, and frankly none of my livestock are valuable enough to warrant such a system anyway.

 

I have a Little Giant 2-MCSD. I like it. It's pretty quiet, and inline--so it doesn't add heat to the water. I don't know if that's an issue where you are.

BTW, what's a redundant system?

BTW, what's a redundant system?

BTW, what's s redundant system? (OK, that's enough).

 

Ocean Runner 3500 or Eheim 1262 are pretty hard to beat. Both can be used internally or externally, are energy efficient thus low heat gain, reliable and very quiet.
I have tried 3 Mags and was disappointed in every one, noisey and very hot. Quiet Ones are misnamed for sure, run hotter than blazes and have restart problems in power outages, I have had two literally go up in flames and I have had both a Via Aqua and a Rio Hyperflow that had the impeller magnets swell up and were unusable. I run 4 Ocean Runners trouble free presently.

 

Heheh, I just meant more than one pump. I know that's something some people go for, but I don't think I'll be able to right now.

 

For a return you only need one pump, usually something that pumps 3 to 5 times the volume of your display tank per hour or in your case about 200-400 gallons per hour with head loss. A Ocean Runner 2500 or Eheim 1260 would do that.
You make up additional water movement with internal powerheads like Seios, Koralias or Tunzes or a closed loop with another one of the first pumps I mentioned. Koralias and the like are very energy efficient and move a bunch of water.

 

Without any details about your planned configuration a lot of assumptions are made. That said, in my experience the Pan World pump has preformed flawlessly and could be regarded as a "good" pump. For a one pump system I might be inclined to suggest the 250PS and the creative use of diverter and/or bypass valves to feed the protein skimmer and various other sump equipment along with a SCWD or two inline back to the display tank.

Another option that IMO would not be considered redundant would be to use the Tunze stream system that IME has also preformed flawlessly. That would allow you to get by with a lesser (sump) pump because you wouldn't have to overcome the extra head pressure from the SCWDs.

In my experience "The Good Ones" (in no particular order)
Pan World
Little Giant
Tunze
SCWD
I guess I wouldn't recommend one for a "one pump system" but I have Danner Mag-Drive pumps that have been running for years so could be considered dependable if you never have to shut them off, it can be frustrating to get them started back up when you do.

 

The old 3/4" SCWD is horrible. I have no experience with the new 1" but the old ones rob at least 30% of you flow and stick often if you have any sand or nutrient laden waters. I switched from a SCWD to an Ocean Motions Squirt years ago and there is no comparison.
I had a Little Giant on an old system and can't say much good about it either. Even though it was an extrenal pump it heated the tank like crazy and was so loud it would keep us up at night. The humming was worse than and old old Magnum canister filter if you have ever heard one of them.