Pump size question from noob

[leebee]

Hi guys, just a question about pump size. I will soon be building my first scrubber(hair algae, grrrrrrr), so I am trying to get everything together for it. I am looking at a screen size of 6x4 inches as I will only feed no more than one cube of frozen food and a pinch of flake and a small amount of Nori for the foxface per day. The question is, at 35 gph per inch I will need 140 gph (4x35). I am about to order a pump, but how big should I go? Is a 1000 litre per hour pump (263 gallons) going to be adequate ? There won’t be a lot of head loss as it will be placed over my sump. So many questions I know, but I have a cupboard full of junk already from this hobby.

Lee.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yeah you will probably be OK with that. I wouldn't imagine that you would experience much head loss at only a couple of feet. If in doubt, see if you can get one of the Eheim Compact+ series pumps. These come with a flow adjustment slider or ball valve built into the pump, as well as being one of the best pumps available. It's quiet and does not generate much heat.

[leebee]

Great , thanks Floyd. That's the pump I am looking at getting. I have one of these allready as my return pump.

[joelespinoza]

I would look at Quiet One pumps, they seem to be very well priced and I love mine. Dead silent and very dependable so far. Even after accidently sucking up a ton of sand/small gravel during tank breakdown it barely hums when shoved in a all glass corner (no sand or padding of any kind).

Fosters and Smith has nice flow charts of most of the models:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/1/1/12762-lifegard-aquatics-quiet-one-pro-aquarium-pumps.html

[kerry]

I have 3 Quiet one pumps and I am very impressed with them. The claims that Joelespinoza makes are my experience as well. I have had my first one for about 2 years. I bought it because it was cheap and figured it would not last long or it would not be of good quality but, the price was right and I was in dire need of a cheap fix that day!! Well, it worked so good I swapped my other two out for this brand.
I have also had a couple Eheims in the past and never had any problem with those either. They were also a great pump and had more features then the Quiet one brand.

[DennisC]

Whilst reading all the posts about screen sizing and flow, I think it worth a mention that the quoted figure of 35gph is US gallons which equates to 132.5 lph.

For a 4" wide mesh, you will need a 530 lph pump or 116.5 gph in Imperial gallons.

Perhaps all pump measurements out to be quoted in lph and not gph as we all do not reside in the US.

Just my twopenneth

Dennis

[leebee]

That’s so funny I nearly fell off my chair. “two penneth “ That would be old pre decimal money wouldn’t it. Litres/ gallons, or is it just me?

[DennisC]

Correct mate. Just an old English wording

[leebee]

No prob, I'm old English too. Born in York.

[DennisC]

Not far away. Im in Doncaster