75 gallon reef ready tank?

[Secondgen]

A friend of mine is buying a new 75 gallon reef ready AGA tank, and he wants me to put together a sump/fuge for him. My question is how big of a return pump should I tell him to buy? I was thinking a Quiet One 3000 which flows 781 gph at 0 head. The sump will be made from a 20 gallon long. I don't know how much flow the internal overflow produces does anyone have info on this? All info/oppinions welcome. God bless.

[Reefinmike]

aga says their megaflow overflows handle 900gph however i have heard of people using them 1,500 gph. i know for a fact they can handle 1,100gph(what my pump puts out with the head) because i plugged up one once and it did fine.

[aquavista99]

A friend of mine is buying a new 75 gallon reef ready AGA tank, and he wants me to put together a sump/fuge for him. My question is how big of a return pump should I tell him to buy? I was thinking a Quiet One 3000 which flows 781 gph at 0 head. The sump will be made from a 20 gallon long. I don't know how much flow the internal overflow produces does anyone have info on this? All info/oppinions welcome. God bless.

I would not recommend anything larger than a Mag 9  (900 gph) for the 75g. I was able to run a Mag 12 (1200 gph) in a 90 g AGA reef ready, but I was pushing the limits for sure. Per AGA, "
 aquariums up to 110 gallons are fitted with one MegaFlowâ„¢ Overflow and are rated for a maximum flow through of 600 G.P.H. (Using a rated 2,400 G.P.H. pump at a 5 foot head). "

[Joel]

I have found that a single 1" drain (like what the all glass pre drilled 75 has) does well with around 500 GPH.

I agree that it can move a little more water per hour than 500 GPH but it can start getting loud. Sometimes the drain will make a loud sucking or slurping noise with more than 500GPH.

Tim is correct that All Glass suggest that no more than 600 GPH (not 900) should be run thru their Megaflow over flow box, I don't suggest exceeding their recommendations.

The mag 7 & mag 9.5 both are good water pumps for this size aquarium. I don't know the flow rates of the quiet one 3000 but what you will need to determine is the height from where the pump is sitting and the water level in the aquarium. In other words, how far up does the pump have to push water? The pump should have a flow chart that states how many GPH it flows at  "X" feet of head pressure. It's about 4.5 feet up from where the pump will be sitting in the sump (measure to be exact) to the top of the aquarium so you will need to determine how many GPH the pump moves at 4.5 feet of head.

For a few more bucks, a 30 long might be a better sump than a 20. If would give you a little more surface area for sand, rock and Macro algae.

[Reefinmike]

you guys are right. 600gph however i know for a fact that one can handle atleast 1,100gph.

[bigfalcon36]

Slower speeds through a sump is the best.  More time to skim, more time for the refugium to work its magic.

Make all your turnover inside the display with powerheads or a closed loop.

[slandis3]

The more you flow through the overflow, the louder it will be.You have to take into consideration where the tank will be located. If its in the living room do you want the sound of Niagara falls or a nice quite stream. I had a 200g tank that with a mag 9.5 was nice and quite but little flow, with a mag 18 it had great flow but i thought the wife was going to kill me because it was so loud you could hear it in every room in the house

[Secondgen]

Thanks for all the replies. Should I also plumb a ball valve inline with the overflow for added adjustment, or is this not necessary?

[slandis3]

I never restrict my overflow. I always put a t on my main pump with a ball valve so if I'm getting to much flow i can open the valve and let the water flow back through my sump.

[Secondgen]

That makes sense.

[Secondgen]

The reason we are going witha 20 long Jeol is because thats about the biggest tank we can fit in his stand without having to cut anything. I do agree though, the bigger the better.

[ohioreef]

I was able to get a 30g under my stand. I'm not sure how the doors on Joel's stand are designed. Mine allowed a fairly large opening.

[slandis3]

You could build one out of acrylic. Its really not as hard as it sounds. I have built 2 small aquariums a 15g and a 10g. Just to try them out. The 15 only cost about $40. and Ive been using it for a year now. I put the built head in a bad place but for my first attempt i think it came out Pratt good

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[ohioreef]

Here is a look under my stand. Travis built me an acrylic sump to replace the 30g tank.

[ohioreef]

Obviously that pic is from when I first installed it....it's not that clean anymore!! LOL

[bigfalcon36]

Gary is that sump still kickin butt?

[Secondgen]

Thats a really nice job on the tank slandis. The problem with my buddy's stand is that it has a center support in the front, and the back. The way that we will have to put the sump in is before we sit the main tank on. Thats the big drawback. The stand is a standard pine stand from Jack's.

[slandis3]

thats easy, build a new stand. the one in the pic was built so you could take the sump out if needed. that pic didn't have the face built yet.it was built for a 150g tank

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[Secondgen]

Thats what I would do if it was my money, but it isn't. So I have to work with what he has. It should be ok though.

[ohioreef]

Gary is that sump still kickin butt?

Still going strong!!!!

[Joel]

A 30 long has a foot print of approx 36"x 12". It'll drop right in thru the top of the stand.

I'm sure a 20 long will work well too.

[Secondgen]

So when I plumb the overflow to sump, it should be a 1 inch pipe from tank, and a 3/4 inch return? Also Joel my friend is gonna need some extra flow with this bigger tank. I have been talking to him about the new propeller style powerheads, and was wonderin if 2 Koralia 4's would be to much flow?

[Joel]

I don't think the 2 would be enough, the 3 or 4 would be more like what you would want.

[Secondgen]

I meant two Koralia 4 pumps Joel. Is that how you took it, or did you think I meant a koralia 2 pump? Sorry for the confusion.

[Secondgen]

Just a little update on my friend's 75 AGA. I helped him change everything over a couple of weekends ago, worked all the plumbing out. They were out of town this weekend so I got the job of checking in on the tank. The sump that we built is working great. The question that I have is does anyone have a cheap/reliable setup for an auto top off system, and if so could you share it with me ( the parts that it will take to build )? Thanks again, and God bless.

[ohioreef]

My ATO is comprised of a float switch ($6), an Aqua Lifter pump ($12), a 5 gallon water jug (a couple bucks) and some airline tubing. I have the instructions posted somewhere, but I'm not sure if it's on here or RC. I'll try to find the link for you.

[ohioreef]

Here ya go:

http://www.ohioreef.com/forum/index.php?topic=1308.0