Aside from the aquarium itself, probably the next most important piece of equipment you need for your saltwater setup is a proper water pump. Without a quality pump, your saltwater aquarium lacks good water circulation that keeps the organisms happy and the filters working. Also, the water pump is used to give power to your filtration system, and possibly other devices, such as your protein skimmer. A good water pump makes life a lot more comfortable for your marine livestock.
Types of Fish Tank Pumps
The two most common marine water pumps in use today are the inline water pump and the submersible water pump. The inline water pump tends to be the more powerful of the two, and can move more gallons of water through your system per hour. Inline pumps are set up outside of the aquarium with inlet and outlet hoses.
The submersible water pump, goes directly into your aquarium, and therefore is easier to install, because you don’t have to worry about installing a bulkhead into your filtration system. Submersible pumps are also quieter to run, since the water around the pump absorbs much of the operating noise. These pumps draw water from the filter and then send the water back through the aquarium.
Whichever pump you choose, make sure it’s rated for the corrosive saltwater environment of your aquarium.
Choose the Pump That Fits Your Situation
One key item to consider when buying a marine water pump is heat dispersion. Because the submersible sits in the actual aquarium, the pump is water cooled, and the heat from the pump operations gets released directly into the water, which may make life uncomfortable for your aquarium residents. To combat this increase in water temperatures, you will probably need to install chillers to control water temperatures. The inline pump is air cooled, so operations generated heat dissipates outside of your tank of water.
If you decide on an inline pump, you need to consider which type of inline pump works best for your aquarium. The inline pressure configuration usually puts the pump in front of a canister filtration system. Because of the location, an aquarium pump in this situation can receive tremendous backwash from the filter. In this case make sure you buy an inline pump strong enough to handle the additional pressure.
The other inline pump configuration is referred to as the inline free-flow, whereby the pump is located behind the filtration device. Because inline pumps in this position receive very little pressure, they can transfer larger volumes of water with less effort than the inline pressure configuration.
Pay Attention to Gallons Per Hour (GPH) Rating
Regardless of whether you choose a submersible or an inline pump for your saltwater aquarium, you need to have a model that is powerful enough to both run some of your other equipment, like chillers and protein skimmers, as well as give you the proper amount of gallons per hour (GPH) for your aquarium and its residents.
To figure out the amount of GPH you need, multiply the total number of gallons your aquarium holds by five. This gives you the minimum GPH for your setup. Because the GPH rating listed on the side of every pump is based on the ideal situation of your head height located at zero feet, you should consider moving up to the next larger size of pump than your aquarium technically needs. With an oversized aquarium pump, you can always do some basic plumbing work to install ball valves that allow you to reduce water flow. However, if your pump is at the minimum GPH for your aquarium, and your setup requires more than your pump can give, your only alternative is to buy another, larger pump.
Where’s the Spare?
Because a water pump is such a critical piece of equipment for your marine aquarium, it helps to have a backup plan in case your pump ever stops working. Some people keep a spare pump on hand to pop into place, when things go wrong. Another alternative is to make sure the store or company you bought the pump from has an extra pump you can borrow immediately until yours returns from the manufacturer in a few weeks.
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