Pump size or water flow recommendation

J

jnmarshall

Premium Member
I'm in the process of putting together a 110gal(48x18x30) tank with a 30gal sump. I can figure out what size pump but not sure on how much water flow (gph) I should be looking for. Can someone provide some good references for the GPH?
 
If you're referring to the return pump in a typical sump setup your return should be a bit more than your skimmers pump. I'd go for approx 4-6x display tank turnover... or 440-660gph.

Powerheads in the tank will need to be used to generate more flow. You want more than 10x display tank volume turnover in the display NOT counting the return... or at least 1100gph through powerheads. I'd be much more likely to add two K3s at 1400gph each though at minimum. I'm an SPS guy though... so I just can't imagine a 110 without tons of flow! :)
 
I have a mag 18 on mine and its too much. I have dialed it back quite a bit, since my overflow doesn't seem to handle it all that well when it is running wide open. A Mag 12 or equivalent would probably be enough.
 
This is for the return or upflow of the sump. I've seen this magic "600gph" mentioned before but thought tank and sump size has something to do with it. I have an Octopus NWB110 whose pump is listed at 260gph. The rise is 65". I have a mag 12 I was going to use but experts(aka sales people) at a couple of LFS say that is going to be too much and I should get a mag 7 or 9.5. According to Danner at 5' the mag 7 will push 390gph, 9.5 pushes 685gph and the 12 pushes 800gph. Another thing I don't know if it should be factored is that the tanks capacity is 110gal by the dimensions. In reality after adding sand and rock the actual amount of water will be less. By my calculations the actual amount is 75-85 gallons but I don't know if that make a difference.
I'm kind of leaning towards the 9.5
 
I would plumb the return so that it has a pipe returning excess flow (amt controlled with a ball valve) back to the sump. That way, you don't put extra unwanted pressure on the pump an can divert extra pressure to a safe place (and could change it if needed). Google melevsreef and he has a pic of how he did it. I can post a link later.
 
I personally wouldn't do this just to save myself from buying another return pump though. It returns water that was already been cleaned by your skimmer and reactors back to your sump. Ideally, we want all of the water being returned to have been cleaned, and all of the water going into the sump needing to be cleaned. That's why being close to the flow of the skimmer is beneficial.

I'd be comfortable with a mag 9 as well. I'd also put a gate valve after the pump so that if I wanted to close the valve to reduce flow I could. Also, that's not bad on a pump, it's the same as extra head loss.
 
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