FLOW RATE

[Marty1971]

Hey all,
More questions, looking into powerhead and such. I don't have a endless flow of cash but looking into how much flow rate should be for each unit and how many I should get with a 180 gallon tank (48x34x25)? It will be a mix reef with fish, live rock/sand. Looking for a reasonable unit.
Thanks for the help in advance.

David

 

[crazyfish253]

I use 4 k4's and from the sump a 2100 gph pump factor in 5ft for head so 800-900 gph seems to be working for my mixed reef. keep in mind all tanks are different my rock work may differ i have 180 aga with a pile on the left up the overflow steep and a slope only covering half the overflow on the left

 

[capdippe]

I have a AGA180 6X2X2, and am using 4 K4's. In the sump two ehime 1262's with 5' as of head space as well. I am using the AGA drain pipes, and was over running them with the ehimes (900GPH) so I had to put two ball valves on to restrict the flow. Hope that helps. I plan to upgrade to 2 MP40's some day, just another idea, but expensive

 

[Krish]

See if this thread gives you a few ideas. It is a bit old, but still may be useful. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/post-your-tank-size-flow-numbers-18140/

Other than that, the closest thing I had to your tank would be my 75 gal which had a 700 gph return through a sea-swirl, and two Tunze streams (one 1600 gph full blast and one 1850 gph on a controller that pulsed it 50%-100%-50% etc every few seconds).

 

[Marty1971]

Thanks all. just want to say this is a great site.

 

[DonW]

Hey all,
I don't have a endless flow of cash

David

Thats priority in this hobby. You need an endless flow of cash.

Don

 

[Marty1971]

Lol let me know when it starts to grow on trees.

David

 

[mojoreef]

I dont know if that is the right approach. the underlining concept with flow is to keep detritus in suspension. So its not always a case of adding more and more pumps, but more on the lines of putting flow in the right areas to keep the detritus from settling? You could even allow the detritus to fall out and then resuspend it. SO I would look more towards a smart flow theme then how much you could through at it.


Mike

 

[Krish]

I dont know if that is the right approach. the underlining concept with flow is to keep detritus in suspension. So its not always a case of adding more and more pumps, but more on the lines of putting flow in the right areas to keep the detritus from settling? You could even allow the detritus to fall out and then resuspend it. SO I would look more towards a smart flow theme then how much you could through at it.


Mike

I agree with Mike...Although we typically shoot for a certain turnover rate to give us a small idea of what to shoot for, it is all about placement. I've found that with my 75gal, having one power head on either side of the tank and both pointing towards the center of the front glass where they collided provided all the coverage I needed. It was great random flow and kept everything in suspension and what you have to keep in kind as well is sand will play a roll here as well. With a sand bed you will be limited some on your flow as too much and you could have a sand storm. For this reason I went bare bottom so I could point my flow anywhere I wanted in an attempt at keeping all waste in suspension which I was able to accomplish in all of my bare bottom tanks (3 of them over the course of time). Only one of my tanks, detritus settled in just one spot, but IMO that is just as good. It allows you the opportunity to get in there and just suck it out from that one spot. In addition to all of this, aquascaping will play a roll as well. The way your rocks are layed out, how much you have etc will determine your flow placement and how much you will need as well. I think with my 75gal's rockwork, if it were different, I may have needed more flow to catch certain areas, but how I had it layed out in the center of the tank leaving room infront of and behind it for flow to pass by helped alot. My 38 gal, well I could have done anything in that because I had over 100x turnover rate! 8 nozzles in a small 38 gal tank :lol:

Anyways, here is my old 75gal to give you an idea of what I was talking about. Two powerheads and one return did the trick.

 

[Slate]

In my 125gallon I use two Koralia Magnum 6 Powerheads (2200 gph each) and then I have around 500gph coming out of my return lines. One problem I had at the start is that with using pumps this large it was hard to get them placed right to not have a huge sand storm. I ended up having one on each side pointing into a rock mountain (My rockwork is diveded in to two large rock mountains with open area on each side). I lucked out and this gives me pretty random flow with the two powerheads hiting each other and different velocities from moving around the rocks. However, if I would have done something like Capdippe with the 4 powerheads it may have been easier to find the right spot to keep flow how I wanted. But it worked in the end and saved me a little cash and energy consumption.

 

[Marty1971]

Thanks for all the different perspectives, really helped alot. I am lucky that I still have time to decide. I do agree with the positioning of the flow over how much flow or specific GPH to have. I just trying to set myself up now vice waiting to after something happens. Being prepared now can alleviate some of the headaches later.