How much is too much?

[Wammbat]

I have a 75 gallon fish only tank that I plan on turning into a reef tank eventually. I am looking at getting 2 Hydor third gen 2450 pumps with wave maker controller. Would this be too much flow for my tank?
Thanks for your help.

 

[Dmorty217]

I would venture to say that those two won't be enough. It all depends on how much rock work and what types of corals you want to keep

 

[Wammbat]

Thank you Dmorty217 I was worried about turning my tank into a whirlpool! How much flow would you recommend? This is my first post to the forum. I am amazed how quickly you have responded and am very appreciative of your help.

 

[Wammbat]

Not related to post but what kind of fish is that in your profile?

 

[crawlerman]

They may be better now, but I have had 3 Hydors and all three leaked electrical current into my tank within 1.5 years. I'd go with 2 MP40's. If budget doesn't allow I'd go with Jebao.

Do you plan on keeping sps or softies?

 

[sde1500]

I have a 75 gallon fish only tank that I plan on turning into a reef tank eventually. I am looking at getting 2 Hydor third gen 2450 pumps with wave maker controller. Would this be too much flow for my tank?
Thanks for your help.

Rule of thumb is 10x (ish) turnover for a reef. Are you running a sump? The return pump GPH would be included in that turnover as well. For now as fish only, the planned pumps might not be bad. Though some fish do like a lot of flow as well as they swim in it.

Not related to post but what kind of fish is that in your profile?

Bandit angel

 

[mcgyvr]

In general we throw around numbers like 30x display tank volume in gallons per hour for the total flow in a tank.. With a sump we throw around 3-5x display tank volume for the flow through a sump..
Those with higher flow corals (sps,etc..) may go up to 75-100x total flow in their tanks..

So an example..
100G tank w/sump..
You want about 300-500GPH (100 x 3 or 5) in the return pump flow rate after head loss and you want about 3000 GPH in total flow (100 x 30) so 2500-2700 from your powerheads (I subtract return pump flow from the total to get what I'd want my powerheads to be)..

I would consider 30x basically the "min" for a happy tank..
And those numbers are just basically a fairly accepted "guidelines" just to have something to shoot for.... Nothing set in stone there or really any scientific proof to back it up.. Its just what it is..

 

[Wammbat]

First and foremost thank you for all the help.
I am planning on running a mixed reef with softies SPS and LPS. I am running a sump. The pump in the sump is a Syncra silent 3.5 at 660 gph turned as far down as possible. My sump has a little trouble keeping up but with it turned down the sump just handles the load. Also on the tank is a skimmer , uv filter and I run carbon through a reactor. I am also in the process or refurbishing some metal halides I picked up second hand.