Gotcha... that explains my confusion.... I agree with Melev, no mater which way I look at it that's WAY overkill. Another example, on our 55g I had a Mag9.5 for the return with the sump 6 feet below the tank (sump was in the basement) and the 9.5 could outrun my 1" overflow with ease.

I've never been known to 'under do' anything, More Power has always been my mantra, but I've learned my share of lessons along the way too.

Just my opinion, the Mag24 is a great pump, but for what it was originally designed for and labeled as.... a pond pump, to be used submerged in a pond to make pretty fountains and stuff, and prevent the pond from freezing... they are pretty bulletproof, but at a cost..... over half of it's power consumption is converted to heat and not towards pumping water.

In an aquarium that would be like leaving a 150w heater on running full bore 24x7.... for the sake of argument lets say anything with less than 300g or 18 square feet of surface area, that heat can't be disappated without having to add more to the system... ie chillers, which starts you in that never ending circle that only spins your electric meter.