Circulation

[Xandict]

So if my tank is 155 gallon and my sump is 30 gallon. How much water do I need to flow through the sump an hour? 5x? Trying to get a price on a pump. Also, for power heads, say I have 3 or 4 in my DT, how much water should they flow an hour? 10x? Thanks in advance.

 

[Smitty]

It really depends on what you're gonna keep in the tank...softies and lps's like 10 to 20x turnover where as sps's like 30x to 40x flow rate.

 

[bobby]

Even with softies I try to get as much flow as I can without disturbing the sand bed. You want to get good flow to lift all the crap off the bed to be skimmed out.

 

[Xandict]

Just a few community fish at first. Don't really want a lot of fish, then later I'm going to try corals. No idea of what corals I want to try yet.

 

[yote]

I personally like a little slower flow through my sump.That way my skimmer has more time to do its work on the water coming thro.So I generally shoot for 3 to 4X turnover through my sump.
Flow in the display,Now thats a whole nother matter:D You know you got to much flow in the display when the sand is blowing like a sand storm.
In my 125,I have right at 59X flow rate ( surprised myself because I just figured that up:shock:). But thats something you have to play around with as your tank grows.As you add rock and corals,then the growth of the corals,the flow is going to change.

 

[Xandict]

Would the use of a flow meter and a gate valve on the built-in overflow side and the return (pumped) side to get them synched? That way I'm not off by a little and eventually it overflows the sump because of a little too much coming in or runs dry because of a little too much going out

 

[yote]

The overflow will only drain what your return pushes back up.So theres really no need to try and synch those.they'll take care of theirself.Although you may want a valve on the return,just in case you need to throttle it back some.

Is your tank drilled or are you using a HOB overflow?

 

[Xandict]

I bought it on craigslist. It has a built-in overflow with a hole drilled in the bottom. But I've seen no return holes in the sides of then tank. Maybe the old owner ran it over the top. I'm looking to drill 2 holes in it. One on each side of the L shape. It's acrylic btw.