uncleof6
Active member
uncle - good point on keeping the two sumps at different levels to help the gravity flow. My original idea was to stack them but was concerned with the height of the first sump being too close to the bottom of the show tank. Maybe an intermediate solution with the first sump about a foot higher than the second is a reasonable compromise. That would yield about 4800 gph.
But again this is "theoretical" not real world. The figures do not account for friction loss in the plumbing--the pipe itself, fittings etc as i stated in previous post (add friction loss) and bean stated earlier today in another thread.
Using check valves is a habit I picked up a long time ago. I don't like the idea of dropping the top 2" of water in my main tank if I turn off main return pump. I would sometimes stack live rock and sps close enough to the surface that dropping 2" would be a problem. Not full exposure, but would only give me 1" of water over the corals with MH beating down.
Will leave this one alone. Other than to state piling rock up that high I believe to be counter productive in terms of flow quality in the tank.