"Phil Krasnostein" writes:

Ross

You need the pump curve for the particular pump to answer those questions.

Given these pump curves, what can you tell me? Or is there another curve
(more/different data) that would be needed to answer my question?

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...on.asp#qone800

There's definitely a "belly" to the curves and it seems that if you
chose a point where the area within the rectangle of the flow and
height is maximized, you may have found some sort of a sweet spot.

But is that sweet spot likely to have the lowest wear on the pump? Is
the pump likely to run most efficiently and produce the least waste
heat at that point on the curve? What might that sweet spot mean
to us as aquarists?

Thanks for all the help,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller