Dolphin Amp Master 3000

[FishHead1]

Does anyone know if I can use a "Y" and run my ETS 600 skimmer and have this work as my return pump too?

 

[FishHead1]

Thanks James.
I was planning on putting two valves right at the tee that comes off the pump.
What do you mean by, "Put the valve where you think the pressure head will be the lowest"?
I am asking about this because this is not a pressure rated pump, but it does pump a lot of water, so I am hoping it will work.

 

[murrayjim]

I use this pump as my return and to power my EVO 500 (rated up to 700GPH) and it works great. I have three 1" hoses that come out of the pump. 1 feeds the skimmer the other 2 run back to the tank. This pump is moving some serious volume. I think that I am moving 1700 gallons through the tank, and another 700 through the skimmer. I'll send pictures if your interested.

 

[FishHead1]

Murrayjim,
Does your skimmer call for a pressure rated pump?
Love to see pictures.

 

[suckair]

I am doing exactly what you asked!
Check out this site.
http://www.geocities.com/suckair69/Suckair_s_reef_work.html

 

[jamesw]

I'm sure you can. I've done it w/ other pumps in the past. Just use a good gate valve to control flow to the system.

Put the valve where you think the pressure head will be the lowest. That way you can "divert" flow. If you put the valve in the wrong spot, you may not get the pressure you need to the skimmer.

HTH
James

 

[Techy-Mechy]

I have a 100 gallon reef tank and I use the AmpMaster 3000 to drive the following:

2 - Ocean Currents Oscillators (1" line)
1 - PM Bullet 1 Skimmer (1" line)
1 - Calcium Reactor - insignificant volume
1 - 1/2 " return to a sparger which is inserted in the coil of my drop in chiller.

I suggest that you use the flexable PVC pipe on both the pump intake and the exhaust, as recommended by Dolphin. I'm not too sure that I'd pay the bucks for the antivib pad again - rather, I think that I'd just stack a couple of real spongey mouse pads under the pump. I found that if you're not careful, you'll get some vibration from both the pump connected to your sump (use at least 8" of the spa flexable PVC) and the exhaust to your tank (I used about 8" of spa flex pvc on the exhaust - probably not enough). I too installed a good gate valve to limit the flow to the Bullet 1, but I operate the skimmer with the valve wide open.

Also, I found that I had to up the pressure to 10 psi on my calcium reactor so that the CO2 would flow into the reactor.

Good luck - I'm really glad that I cut down on my pumps from 7 to 1 when I redid my plumbing (before I had one return pump, one pump for my skimmer, 4 power heads for circulaton, and 1 small power head for my calcium reactor).