How does everyone determine there line sizes ( feed and return)and how to determine what pump?It is a 90 reef ready tank witha 30 gallon sump...
I only want to do this once ..thanks very much ,Sal
If it's a pre-drilled tank then everything is determined by the size of the drain hole. I believe (but could be mistaken) that the AGA/Aqueon RR 90's are plumbed with a single 1 inch drain (about 600gph) and a 3/4 inch return meaning you'll need 1 inch tubing or PVC for the drain line to the sump and 3/4 inch tubing or PVC for the return line. Buy a pump that pushes an amount of water equal to or less than the drain's gph (after takng into account head height and number of bends if any). This way you'll never have to worry about the pump/return outpacing the drain and emptying your sump. www.Reefcentral.com has some calculators on the home page to help you determine pump size/gph needed based on your plumbing design.
Use about a foot of tubing to connect the sump to the return pump and to connect the return pump to the pvc return line. It cuts down on the vibrations and makes everything much quieter. External pumps genreally add less heat to the system then internal pumps.
