I have a jet pump connected to a small pressure tank that is used to irrigate the garden from rainwater cisterns. The system is set for 30/50 psi cut on/off.

If I run the irrigation fully open, the demand seems to be about 300 gal/hour, so 5 gal/min. This causes the pump to run continuously as the pressure tank only holds about 2 gal (judging by the size of it).

Is this how I should operate the system, with the pump running continuously, or should I throttle back the flow so that the pump runs more like 1 min on, 2 min off? The latter would make for quite long irrigation time settings to deliver the needed water amount, with the pump going on about 60 or 70 times.

I'm asking as I'm trying to reduce the wear on the pump and I've heard conflicting things about pump cycling.