Flow rate (GPH) in the reef.

M

Mr.X-ray

Hello all,
New guy here. I've been working on my 120g All-glass for about 1 1/2 years now, and All-glass model 4 sump that I added an extra baffle to the main area to make into a refugium. Tank was live rock, fish, and large carpet anenome only. Now I am getting into the corals. ie small pieces of mushroom, sunburst, leather, galaxii, and some what over run by majavo's (web search to find out what they are (the majavo) and how to get rid of some is how I found ya'll).
Anyways I am planning on re-piping the sump as it is pretty much a rats nest under the tank. You know inlets and outlets, and power cords run amuck. So I was thinking of upgrading the pump while doing this operation. I now have a 700 gph but think maybe its a little light in my current (no pun intended) and future needs. What does everyone think? What should I get? As in gph. And what directions should the 2 outlets be pointed? They are on the far opposite sides of the tank.
By the way distilled white vineger at .1ml injected direct into a nickel sized Majavo's mouth does an awesome job!

Thanks a bunch...
 
well, i wouldnt add more flow from your return pump, but add a closed loop or some power heads. most recommend a minimum of 10x turnover, so you need aroun 1200 gph, another 500. what you should aim for is around 15-20x turnover, to get things moving and make sure you do not get deposits building up. if you are wanting to do some acros or anything like that then more like 30-40x flow would be needed. all in all, it depends on what you are keeping, but you definately need more.
 
You really only want about 3-5 times your tank volume turning over through your sump an hour. Any more than that through the sump can cause micro bubble problems returning to the display amd too much flow for your skimmer to work properly.

Your additional flow should come from a closed loop or power heads in the display itself. The Vortech pumps seem to be an awesome way to get that additional flow although they are quite expensive.
 
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