sump circulation rate

[tasos]

Hello everybody!Does water flow in the sump needs to match water flow in the skimmer ?Thank you.

 

[Maxx]

Not quite sure what you're asking....

Generally, whaterflow through the sump is kept between 4-10 times total system turnover. I prefer 6-7 times total turnover. For example. Lets say you have a 100 gallon tank and a 50 gallon sump. Total system volume there is 150 gallons. 4 x 150 = 600 gph, 10 x 150 = 1500 gph, 6 x 150 = 900 gph. Anything higher than 10 times total system turnover through the sump gets too noisy IME.

Whatever your skimmer's reccomended flowrate is what it should be fed with. The skimmer on my tank has a manufacturers reccomendation of being fed 1.5-2.5 total system volume per hour. In my case, its receiving 1.5 times total system volume per hour.

HTH,

Nick

 

[tasos]

thank you Nick !!

 

[SeaMonster]

does it depend of how stocked your tank is? can you use a smaller pump than you should for now, but keep very few fish till you get a bigger pump?

 

[Katchupoy]

does it depend of how stocked your tank is? can you use a smaller pump than you should for now, but keep very few fish till you get a bigger pump?

Yes you can. The only effect is that the skimming side wont be that efficient but yes you can. The main goal is to skim the water surface of your main tank. As long as you can do this then you are good. Maybe not efficient but still good. Also as long as you are not using the return pump as your main flow pump in your main tank then your good.

Now may i suggest that if the return pump is not that powerful and on the low end then put your heater on the main tank. Too low flow might have a lag in terms of water temperature between your main tank and sump.

Hope this helps.

 

[Notturnia]

i usually use a 5-7x flow rate for the return pump to be sure all inside the sump can be "feed" properly.. like skimmer and chiller... so you wont risk to have a cold sump and hot tank and you wont risk to have a skimmer that cant clean the tank due to low flow rate on the tank..

usually i try to have the skimmer big enough to be able to clean nearly all the water that flow to the sump.. so if i have a 100g tank and 150 sys i have a 1000 gph return pump and a skimmer inlet pump that does 500-1000 gph to be sure i can clean the water in no more then 1 hour after i give food ..

but that's my opinion

 

[trillyen]

i was gonna put a phead in my 45 gallon sump on my 76 gl but i decided not to cause the water flowing over the baffles causes enough flow into the refuge chamber and my return chamber dont need no dang flow

I just wanted the water that stands the very top to move a little cause it seems like the water on top never changes, how does that work???

i hope it should be ok im hoping!!!

thatd be the only reason why i would worry about flow rate in my sump though i wanted the water on top to be moving alot like the water under the top of the water and it just dont seem to be doing soo!!

 

[veralteaquatics]

Depends on what kind of skimmer you have, but generally no...

 

[tasos]

Thank you guys!!
I have 4-5 times the main tank volume circulation through the sump.I have an ETSS reef devil skimmer in the front chamber of the sump with 700g/h feeding pump and a deltec apf 600 skimmer with 200g/h feding pump.I found that the first skimmer contributes mostly on areation of the tank (through ph measuring) and the second skimmer does most of the cleaning.I have an mostly sps tank so I need a lot of skimming...!!!