Return pump help

Isnt mag drive made by Danner also?... have you thought about the jebao1200? They have very low power and you can adjust the flow. Plus very very quite

For 12' head pressure I would suggest a pan world pump.
like this one

Edited by willstang - August 11 2014 at 3:18am

The Mag Drive pumps use stainless steel screws, relatively safe for saltwater.

btw, all these pumps are made to handle a flow control valve on the output side. (Do not place the valve on the inlet side of the pump.) An output flow restricting valve is much easier to work with than "a pipe plumbed after the pump to divert water if the flow is too much."

We used to think that water flow had to be really fast through the Sump/Refugium. Then, with improvements in pump technology, we found that more flow in the display compensated for standard flow through the Sump/Refugium. If you think about it, 500 gal of water change per hour is a lot of water for even a 200 gal tank.

In my experience one key is to make the Refugium as efficient as possible  This means a DSB of multiple grades of sand with a rubble zone and a bright light illuminating Macroalgae that can grow over the entire sand area. Whenever I visit hobbyists tanks, the Refugium light is often too small/dim. An open sump where almost the entire bottom is sand and algae is very efficient.

It's important to make water flow within the display as efficient as possible. It doesn't necessarily take big expensive pumps. Good space under and around the rocks, with water moving over 75% or more of the sand bed makes even the weakest flow more efficient for biofiltration. Below is an illustration of the open sand bed I'm talking about.

Aloha