Seio 620 enough flow for a 29 Gal. reef?

[JotaDe]

Currently I have a Remora w/Maxijet 1200 and 3 powerheads. I get good flow with good movement and am able to keep the surface scum clean. I'm happy with my current flow but unhappy with the site of 3 powerheads spread out across the back of my tank.

I figure I have around 618 total gph outside of the Remora's maxijet 1200. The Seio should give me 620 gph which on paper looks exactly the same.

My concerns are;
-would 1 620 be able to cover the same area as the 3 powerheads as far as dead spots are concerned even if the gph is about the same?
-would 1 pump be as effective as 3 separate ph's as far as current force and current angle/placement are concerned?

As always any personal experience or opinion on this is gratefully accepted.

 

[mthedude]

I have the exact setup only in a 55 and I've been looking at the Seio's, don't want to hijack, but mind if I tag?

 

[JotaDe]

Of course not, as long as my questions are answered?

 

[bjonesjr1]

I have a 55 gallon tank also, and was concerned about not having enough flow, I was looking at a Tunzee 6020, I made a thread and got people's opion on it, Here is the thread that I started so you can check out the response from everyone alright:

Thread I started

Maybe this will help you out with a few answers.

 

[mr pink floyd]

im looking to do a 620 in my 29, ive heard it was enough...

 

[JotaDe]

Yeah, I've followed yours and choco's threads in the Nano forum. Just wanted a wider audience here because I'm seeing mixed results for this, some think it's enough and other's don't.

 

[duec22]

On my 29 I've got a sieo 620..rio90, rio200, and another rio200 hooked up to the aquafuge...total of about a 33x turnover rate, and I'm thinking of increasing it...But I have mostly SPS.

 

[JotaDe]

Wow. Are any of those Rios hooked up to a skimmer? Or are those all powerheads in your main? Either way, you want more gph than a 620 + a couple Rios is giving...

 

[bjonesjr1]

I'm going with two seio 820's personaly in my 55 gallon tank, And that should be enough for what I want to do with my tank. I too don't want a bunch of equiptment in my tank... Thats my opion... Hopefully that thread I posted here helped you out JotaDe. Sorry if it didn't

 

[Ball]

A seio 620 will not be enough. The flow is very weak from them. It wont cover all the nooks and crannies. I would suggest a Seio 1100 for a 29 gallon, that is if your wanting to stick with Seio pumps.

 

[duec22]

skimerless for three years, no problems. I've got plenty of pics in my gallery showing color. I think skimming is overrated on small tanks. However, I tend to do 30-50% water changes about every week.

 

[JotaDe]

Well I'm not dead set on getting a Seio, I'm just interested in cleaning up the 3 powerheads I have in the back of my tank. Getting 1 instead of 3 seemed like a good idea. However, I don't want a drop in performance because of this. bjones, I liked the old pix better

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

I'd rather have 3 powerheads so you could position them strategically.

The answer to your question is that a Seio 620 could be enough -- if your tank is all softies and mushrooms anything more than the apx 25X turnover probably would be detrimental to the corals. If it's LPS, maybe it's enough maybe not. If it's SPS, I'd have at least two Seio 620s.

Depends on what you want in the tank. IME, the right amount of flow is as much as you can cram in there and not have a negative response from your livestock. In my mixed softie / LPS / SPS 125 tank, that's about 4000gph, or 32X turnover, where it sits now...

 

[JotaDe]

Interesting take Alaskan, thanks.
Currently I have about 33x flow (300 gph from a Remora so it must be a bit less...) and my corals do ok, could definitely be better but I don't know if that's because of my lights (130W PC), or the fact that I don't feed them.
Anyway, I have mostly LPS, a couple SPS, and some softies.

 

[duec22]

One nice thing about the smaller pumps is that you can hide them. The one rio 90 that is in my tank is under the rockwork to keep water moveing though the rock and so garbage doesn't build up.

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

Jota -- in nature, "flow" is equivalent to 100-1000X turnover in a tank, but the flow isn't bouncing off walls of glass either. There's more to it than that as well -- a Tunze stream pumping out 1500gph is going to do a lot more for a tank than, say, 5 Remoras lined up putting out the same volume. The Remoras are like little waterfalls, the Tunze is like an underwater turbine -- major difference in how that effects detritus accumulation and flow into and through LR.

The main benefits to maximizing flow, IME, are keeping detritus suspended so it can find an overflow and maximizing filtration capacity of LR -- the more flow you have everywhere the more surfaces and pores in LR you'll utilize for denitrification.

There can be too much flow, though, in a tank. In my 125, there are exactly two spots I can put my big hammer coral where it will fully inflate and thrive -- not coincedentally they're in the lowest flow parts of a tank with 4000gph flowing through it. I had to position my Tunze streams where I did just to allow some "low flow" space for my hammer coral, and finger leather for that matter. If it were an all SPS tank, I could double or triple the flow and it would be just fine for the corals...

 

[Bagz]

doenst ur sand blow verywhere. i ahve a 820 and 620 in my 60 and my sand in the middle blows verywhere just an idea to think abour

 

[HowardW]

Multiple smaller pumps are always better than 1 large one in my opinion. You're trying to simulate the random turbulent flow of the ocean which is hard to do with just 1 big pump.

 

[dastratt]

Go with more than just a 620. How about 2 620s?

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

Bags -- my sand in the front middle is, well, dynamic. Sometimes it ends up bare bottom in that part -- right where the streams cross and direct a LOT of flow straight down. That's why I have that ball shaped green montipora rock on the left of the center island and the other LR on the right side -- to catch sand... Works out to be almost bare bottom there. Good point...