reactor pump

[Silverfish]

I am building a DIY calcium reactor and need a re-circ pump for it. I have a Little-Giant 2MDQ-SC 500gph @ 0'head/400gph @ 5'head that I used as a return pump for my 55g, but too many bubbles, too much noise. Would this pump be a little bit on the large side for my reactor, even if I throttle it down? Should I just go for the Ehiem 1048? I like the idea of using the LG because I already have it, but.... [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Thanks for any input

[titus]

Hello,

Depending on your design, too much bubbles may be a very bad thing.

You can always throttle a pump down but if the pump is also doing the role of return for your display tank, it'll be difficult (very difficult) to configure it such that it's also doing the re-circulation for the reactor.

My suggestion is to get a separate high quality external pump for the re-circulation, and a feeding pump for pushing water into the reactor.

[pocilipora]

How tall is reactor chamber going to be?

[titus]

Hello,

Actually the correct question would be how wide the reaction chamber is. Because reactors are pretty much a closed circuit, there is no need to worry about height. A return pump driving water up and higher than the water level in the sump has a different story.

[Silverfish]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. The reaction chamber will be 4" acrylic 24" tall. I was planning on using a MJ1200 as the supply and return to the tank, with the LG as the re-circ.

[ldzielak]

Bruce,

I just picked up a Eheim from Big Al's they have come down in price just this week I think. My reactor will be a 6" x 18" like the one PM has on their website. So I purchased a Eheim 1250, like PM uses for that size. The LG sounds like a lot of pump simply for a reactor, the 1250 doesn't put out that much and your reactor would not need as much as a 6" I would think.

[Silverfish]

Hi Lee,
I kind of thought that the LG would be a bit much for my reactor, oh well, it is pretty noisy anyway.

Did you go to Big Al's or order online? I saw that their sale was on this week so I am tempted.

thanks