Return flow gph

[danrobberg]

I am starting a 93 cube sps build soon.y sump will be in the basement. I will have 8 feet of head so I am concerned about which pump and how much flow I need. I am lookin at a red dragon mini 50. With that much jead I will have 500 gph flow through the return. Is that enough for an sps tank? I plan on having either 2 vortech mp10 inside the tank or 1 mp10 and a maxspect gyre 150.

 

[danrobberg]

For some reason I couldn't edits post. Sorry for the bad iphone typing. It is supposed to say my sump and head instead of jead.

 

[Myka]

I am starting a 93 cube sps build soon.y sump will be in the basement. I will have 8 feet of head so I am concerned about which pump and how much flow I need. I am lookin at a red dragon mini 50. With that much jead I will have 500 gph flow through the return. Is that enough for an sps tank? I plan on having either 2 vortech mp10 inside the tank or 1 mp10 and a maxspect gyre 150.

I think you will have more than 8 feet head pressure. This is a measure from the highest point of plumbing (usually close to the water surface) to the inlet of the pump. Assuming your tank will probably be 50" ish to the water surface, plus the floor joists, plus the 8' walls in the basement...you're probably closer to 13 or 14 feet of head pressure. Unless it's a crawl space and a short tank?

As far as flow goes, you're looking for about 5-8x total volume turnover through the sump. The turnover in the tank via powerheads is a different subject. So, assuming your sump is probably around 40 gallons and half full, that's about 20 gallons of water, and your 93 is say 90 gallons of actual water, you have 110 gallons total so you're looking for 550-880 gph turnover through the sump after head loss. You can also factor in plumbing size and the number of fittings which can also affect head loss which may or may not be significant depending how you're going to plumb it. There is a calculator on the main RC page that can help you with this.

 

[danrobberg]

My sump will be on a stand that is just shy of 4 feet from the subfloor the tank will be on. The subfloor is either half inch or 3/4, probably half inch. Top of the tank will be about 50 inches do that puts me at about exactly 8 feet.

 

[danrobberg]

The sump will also be sitting directly under the tank so it will be a straight shot.

 

[Peter Eichler]

3-5x is a good goal, anything more is superfluous and could even contribute to less skimmer efficiency and micro bubbles depending on sump design. Also, more flow through the sump will make it more difficult for detritus to settle in the sump, which is something I like to encourage.

 

[danrobberg]

This is what the sump will be sitting on.

 

[Myka]

My sump will be on a stand that is just shy of 4 feet from the subfloor the tank will be on. The subfloor is either half inch or 3/4, probably half inch. Top of the tank will be about 50 inches do that puts me at about exactly 8 feet.

Ohh, ok.

 

[danrobberg]

So would this be enough flow for an sps reef? I don't want to drop that much cash if not.

 

[Myka]

So would this be enough flow for an sps reef? I don't want to drop that much cash if not.

SPS, LPS, softie, it's all the same as far as sump flow goes. As long as your calculations are correct (I didn't check), then it would work for you.