SPS and flow

robrich342

robrich342

New member
Good Morning,

I have decided to take my tank towards more of an SPS tank instead of mixed reef.

My question is two MP 40's plus 1800 gallons per hour from return pump...the right amount of flow. If my math is correct with the MP 40's on wide open it would be turning over 65 times per hour.

120 gallon MT / MP40 = 3000 x 2 + 1800 = 65 is this good, great, or too much and should I turn down the MP's
 
1800 gph from your return is alot, too much for effective skimming IMO. I would cut that back and go with more in tank flow.

Don't turn down your MP's
 
I have a Sequence Reeflo Barracuda in my basement pumping up to 13 -14 feet of head. I assume I'm getting 1800 gph to the tank based on their chart. I do have a 100 gallon sump so with that large of a sump do you still feel like my skimming is not as good as it could be ?
 
Water flow through the sump should be approx 5 times water volume and hectic flow in the tank. Tank flow is obviously for the sps but sump flow rate gives the skimmer more time to do remove organic waste from the water column and can promote pod growth,etc especially if you use part of your sump as a refugium. All of this is my opinion but it works for me
 
Tank flow is obviously for the sps but sump flow rate gives the skimmer more time to do remove organic waste from the water column
Click to expand...

If the skimmer pump is designed to take in a certain amount of water and air mix, it should be fairly constant regardless sump flow. Once the water and the air is inside the skimmer body, the mix is not affected either. I can understand water depth and pressure affecting skimmer pump. I can also imagine external skimmer might be affected by flow but I don't see how in-sump skimmer is affected by this.

Can you explain this in detail?
 
My sump is only a sump I have a separate mac algae tank. I'm running a SRO cone 3000 that is over-sized for 220 gallons. I do get a dark juicy green gunk once a week it fills half way up and I get a 1/8 to 3/16 build up on the inside of the neck.

What da ya think ?:bounce2:
 
water moving faster across the skimmer pump effects the water pull on the skimmer, return pumps shouldnt really be used as flow for the tank imo. thats why i have the vortech's, btw i have a 80g sps dom tank 3'x'2'x22" and run a mp40 and a mp20 and have about 300 gph on my return, not all sps likes heavy or high flow either
 
NyReefNoob said:
water moving faster across the skimmer pump effects the water pull on the skimmer
Click to expand...

That's the about the only thing I can think of that might remotely affect in sump skimmer. But I would think only an extremely weak skimmer pump would be affected and you would need a lot of flow in the sump. Because if is this true or common, it would eventually destroy pump (not just affect its performance). It will be similar to restricting the intake of the pump which we should never do.

Do you have any links or data as reference? Something like X% less pull for a Y GPH skimmer pump given Z GPH in sump flow?
 
Only have a pump big enough to return the water back to your system as for return only, your pumps in the tank will create your current you need and will be consistant and controlable. I think too many have to big of pump in the sump and to fast of a return of water exchange. This is my opinion and information from fellow reefers with very successful systems.
 
dzhuo said:
That's the about the only thing I can think of that might remotely affect in sump skimmer. But I would think only an extremely weak skimmer pump would be affected and you would need a lot of flow in the sump. Because if is this true or common, it would eventually destroy pump (not just affect its performance). It will be similar to restricting the intake of the pump which we should never do.

Do you have any links or data as reference? Something like X% less pull for a Y GPH skimmer pump given Z GPH in sump flow?
Click to expand...

I agree - I've never understood why high flow through the sump would make skimming less effective. I can understand why you might want the flow through a refugium to be lower (because you don't want to whip around the macro algae and pods, etc. too much) and I can understand why it might be wasteful or unnecessary to have high flow through the sump. But I can't see how it negatively affects skimming. People might think it's for the same reason that you have recirculating skimmer designs, but I don't think that's correct.
 
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Hi, The 1800 gph pump for the sump can be used very nice in a closed loop and did that for my 180 gal, my sump had a smaller pump and turned the tank over barely 4 times an hour. My current 90 gal SPS only tank has a 3 time turn over per hour for the sump and lots of flow in the tank from power heads. Everything is going great and it is quiet.
 
I'm in the middle of running as many of my things , media reactor, fuge, and frag tank.

In the past I had them on their own small pumps because I wanted the flow in the MT. After all the discussion at least I will make this change. It will slow the sump current down a little but, as I said before with as big as my sump is it did not have that much current anyway and my SRO 3000 cone is rated for 1/3 more water. I will post pics later .
 
skh said:
I agree - I've never understood why high flow through the sump would make skimming less effective. I can understand why you might want the flow through a refugium to be lower (because you don't want to whip around the macro algae and pods, etc. too much) and I can understand why it might be wasteful or unnecessary to have high flow through the sump. But I can't see how it negatively affects skimming. People might think it's for the same reason that you have recirculating skimmer designs, but I don't think that's correct.
Click to expand...

I also agree. More flow past the skimmer intake, unless it's so great that it effects skimmer pump performance (unlikely) won't make any difference. The skimmer will still take in the same percentage of tank volume per hour and skim it. In fact, you might argue that the higher flow helps mixing of the organics etc in the water within the sump water, hence, the skimmer is more likely to take in the gunk and skim it out.
 
slower flow thru the sump also helps allow that suspended detritus to settle out in the sump for easy removal...while fast flow will keept it suspended and then back to the display.

Slower also minimizes bubbles getting thru bubble traps or to the return pump inlet too.

I have ~650gph sump flow on my 250 DT. works great. sump is 65g.
 
110galreef said:
slower flow thru the sump also helps allow that suspended detritus to settle out in the sump for easy removal...while fast flow will keept it suspended and then back to the display.
Click to expand...

Well, it isn't that part of the problem? :)

If it's settling in a sump, it sure won't be skim out by your skimmer. It could potentially sit there continue to decay until your next water change. If they weren't settling down and continue to circulate, there would be a higher chance your skimmer will get to it faster. Primary principle of BB.

I can't argue with the pods but for macro algae, some do prefer higher flow rate in order to thrive.
 
Agree, flow rate through skimmer shouldnt affect it. Unless the detritus material is moving only in certain portion water volume, not spread throughout the whole system...flow rate shouldnt matter. Plus you would want high circulation in display tank so all organic matter should be dispursed evenly through the water...overall its the skimmer's ability to skim...not the flow...that will remove junk out of water
 
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