What kind of flow are you using?

[nrbelk]

I need advice/opinions on flow.

I finally bought my 300 DD tank and am working on getting all the pieces together. First thing is the plumbing and return pump.

My main thought was to achieve 10x turnover/flow total. I'd have a return pump that does around 1200 GPH and then additional powerheads that if you add all their rates together would get me to the 10x mark.

But I'm getting responses that it is nowhere near enough and to not count the return pump as part of turnover (or visa versa)?

So I found these forums (and I feel pretty cool that I can post in them now ). What do you all do for your return pumps and total flow/turnover?

 

[Drae]

"lots"

 

[Drae]

Ha haa. Lol. 5x tank volume with my return pump and koralia's for now until I can flip the tunze bill. I will be going with 4 tunze 6095's in a hundred gallon tank though.

 

[Aqua firemedic]

I would not consider flow from your sump for turnover. Only powerheads. If it was me and money was not an issue..... Mp60x2

 

[Epicreefer]

Tank volume should turn over through the sump about 3-5x an hour so 9-1500gph after head loss. This depends a lot on your skimmer as well though, your skimmer should also process about the same amount of water, on an sps tank it's better to be closer to the 5x than the 3x. For flow I would go with 4 mp40's over 2 mp60's. For less expensive flow you could go with koralias or non adjustable tunze or a knockoff brand, several have decent reviews. Any way you look at it you should put at least 30x flow in the tank, to some extent the more power heads the better but the more knowticeable they are.

 

[degibson84]

On my 220 I run my return pump which is about 1000gph of headloss and one WP40. Thinking of adding a WP25 or another 40. I would think 2 40s plus your return may be ok

 

[Aquatron]

Since your in the planning stage read lot's of big tank build threads and see endless ways plumbing is done and why Your built in over flows will dictate how much turn over you can have then build sump to handle +........as a starting point. FYI there is a big difference in turn over and tank water movement while flow in our systems is the end product of design.

Happy ReefN

 

[nrbelk]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I've been looking at the big tank build threads trying to glean any information I can.

With the suggestion of 4 powerheads, would you place two on each end of the tank or would some go along the back of the tank as well?

 

[mrx66699]

Tank turn over is the amount of volume turning over from the DT to the Sump back to the DT ......nothing turning over with powerheads just flow wherever they are placed.....I have a 540 with a 300 gal sump I run twin (two) reeflow super gold darts that are 4300 gph each with a loss of about 600gph each for the head pressure ....they both are ran wide open and this gives around 7400gph turnover.....my plumbing is also dialed back to a sweet spot with the use of gate valves as the cost to coast and pipe work can easily outdo the pumps ......just something for you to think about, here is a pic of the returns leaving the sump...

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/mrx66699/media/540%20Build/IMAG1438.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b70/mrx66699/540%20Build/IMAG1438.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG1438.jpg"/></a>

 

[Ldagger]

One way of doing this that is not done alot but I think deserves merit is to use an external pump behind your tank, or above depending on layout and run the input down from top on one end and the output down into the tank on the other, so the water goes thru the whole tank and a striaght pipe behind. make the input low in the tank and output higher. You can use any mid sized pump that can be hard piped. this will move a larger mass of water along the entire tank, and you don't have to drill any holes or really worry about thru put.
whatever that pump is rated for is approx how much you are using.
you can even sit the pump where if it did leak it could leak into the tank or the sump. cheap and easy : )

 

[Ldagger]

Oh you will have to prime it the first time with an airline tub before you use it, but after that it will keep the water in the pipes as long as both ends remain underwater. I used one of those toms air/water pumps to prime it, took 4 mintues. If you don't get what I am saying let me know, thanks and best of luck