Thinking of Changing my Pump, Need Opinions

[reefs4life]

Hey guys so I have been running my 210 for the past year with a reeflo hammerhead but now I'm starting to think it's a bit of overkill for the system. I do have a manifold so I think it's good at handling the amount of head pressure I have but I still think a smaller pump like the reeflo dart would be good enough to handle it. The only issue is that I am not 100% sure that the dart can handle my ridiculous plumbing lol so I just want to see what you guys think, whether the switch would be good or not. Here is what my plumbing basically looks like so you guys can get a better idea:

Thanks in advance,
Fortunato

 

[rkaragozler]

i would say stay with what you have, a dart does not have enough head pressure for your system, if i remember from when i was their, the plumbing goes another 2-3', then makes a couple more 90', then into tank, plus you had a spray bar also.

 

[reefs4life]

Yeah I mean that's my biggest concern, the head pressure, but the my whole goal to this is also to cut back on some energy costs but I guess the snapper wouldn't work well. I wanted to also kill that whole spray bar thing I have going and maybe just get two MP40w instead of that plumbed circulation system I have going right now.

 

[rkaragozler]

i don't remember if you had any power heads in your tank.
if you tell me how many 90', 45' elbows you have.
and how high you are going up. i'll calculate your head height.
also the diameter of all piping

 

[Fishluva513]

A setup i did recently i installed a dart and it works like a beast and it silent. Setup is 300g with a 90 g sump/fuge

 

[reefs4life]

i don't remember if you had any power heads in your tank.
if you tell me how many 90', 45' elbows you have.
and how high you are going up. i'll calculate your head height.
also the diameter of all piping

I really am not sure where I'm taking count from but there's gotta be a good 20-90degree elbows and there's that huge manifold plus idk how many feet of piping. Most piping is 1-1/2"

 

[rkaragozler]

you start from where the pipes meet the pump, and start calculating.
if you like here is a software that i use to calculate everything
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/5/aafeature2

 

[ClosetFishGeek]

If you add up all the height of pvc and amount of elbows, 90's, and 45's you have we can get a pretty dam close number for the exact pump that will pull of the job with the most effeciency.
Without knowing the exact number of items and knowing that you used a hammerhead before and it did the job well then I would definitely look into the Hammerhead gold. I love the hammerhead pump and mine just went and I got the seals fixed but in the interm i just bought a hammerhead gold which draws less wattage but is still a beast of a pump. If I were you I would keep the hammerhead as a backup and get a gold.

 

[albano]

If I were you I would keep the hammerhead as a backup and get a gold.

+1...That's what I did!



/

 

[loneracer05]

sry to hijack your thread but how loud is your hammerhead? Im thinking of upgrading too it from a mag24.it will be in the stand but in my living room.

 

[Fishluva513]

Spoke to rich and I didn't kno u had so many twists and turns I'd stay with wat u got. If it ain't broke don't fix it

 

[reefs4life]

Sorry guys I haven't been on all day and I wasn't home either so I wasn't able to calculate all the head pressure but tomorrow I'm off so I should be able to do that. The only reason why I want something smaller is also because now I don't keep my valves open all the way, most of them are at about 1/2 open so I figured with a smaller pump I could probably keep them all the way open and get the same flow. I was looking into the Reeflo Barracuda/Hammerhead Hybrid and try out the Barracuda part of it. I think it would work ok since it has very similar specs to the Hammerhead, handles pretty high head and has high gph but draws about 100w less and if I ever upgrade or I dont get enough from the barracuda I could just switch it to the hammerhead again. Any thoughts on these hybrids?

 

[rkaragozler]

I think they are called hybrids, because they supply you with 2 impellers. The impeller housing is the same for both impellers.
as far as having your ball valves set half way. I think that is great, this will give you the option to be able to put anything in line, and not worry.