Sump return

[DonW]

Lets discuss sump returns. Ive heard everthing from 2 times a day tank turnover to 10 times a hour. High flow seems to be pretty popular lately as compared to the old slow flow. What turnover rates is everyone running and WHY?

Don

 

[ronj]

i know alot of people use high flow rates through their returns....i have heard not to use them for flow in your tank...not sure why..maybe to keep the flow a little bit slower through the refuge

 

[Meche]

Ahhh, good Q! I am very courious myself.

 

[Meche]

WOW, this thread really took off huh?! :lol:

BUMP

 

[Krish]

No matter how big my tank ever was, I only liked about 800 gph of flow through my sump at the most. I never rely on my sump's return to be a primary source of flow. Infact, I only look at it for what it really is...A sump return. I don't base any of my flow for the tank around it and pretend it's not even there when considering flow for the tank (as I know alot of people base a lot of their circulation for the tank by the sump's return). I personally like less flow through the sump to give my skimmer a better shot at incoming water. Some may say the faster the water through the sump, the more water passes by the skimmer, but I just rather go the slower route Also, any detritus my skimmer misses seems to stay in that first chamber with the slower flow rate making sump maintenance a breeze rather than having to vaccum every square inch of my sump. That's my 2 cents worth...Great topic Don

 

[Meche]

Anyone else?

Bump

 

[Krish]

Anyone else?

Bump

How about you Brett

 

[Meche]

I don't have a sump (yet)

I'm looking at shallowreefs mag950 though. Which pumps 800gph @ 4ft.

 

[sryder]

my return pump is a mag 24 it is tee'd off and feeds my fuge. I adjust them to have enough flow to the main tank so the overflows can handle it. the remainder then goes through the fuge.

 

[mungus]

Great thread Don!! I was just thinking about this when I got up today. I currently have a pcx40 return pump bringing about 550 gph to the display. I have a RO 200 recirc skimmer that I am running about 150 gph through. I was thinking that it was kinda pointless to run all that water though the sump since I am only skimming 150 gph. I currently get detritus that accumulates in the return chamber. I was thinking if I reduced the flow to the sump my skimmer feed pump would have a better chance of collecting this blow by detritus. It would also cut down quite a bit on electrical cost since I am pumping the water up apx 12'. I don't know if my thinking is correct but I want to give it a try.

Brian

 

[Scooterman]

My modified SQ Uno Wahoo was converted to a Tarpon, 1,440pgh with 25ft head. I have about 1/3 returned back into the sump, I have a 1 1/2" BH draining the CC trough. I plan on feeding a chiller with the rest of the water, also the carbon & phosphate reactor & skimmer if needed, so it may be reduced drastically, don't care as long as it is circulating which I think I have plenty of pump for all that & more. I can easily swap impellers to increase output if ever necessary. Lets, see how many run-on sentences is that?

I have a SQ 4200 series on a CL for circulation & love it

 

[onehawksfan]

I think it depends on what you want your sump to do. I have a small 29g tank with only a 10g sump. I have a sump mainly for extra water capacity, a place for my skimmer (tunze nano), and a mini-refugium/compartment to grow caeto. I run a Mag7 return through a SQWD as the only source of flow in my tank. I arranged my baffles to catch the detritus and other solids in one compartment of the sump so I can easily "vacuum" them out when I do water changes. Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

 

[LakeEd]

I have tried to match my return rate, to the requirement of my Skimmer... as far as flow. I use a Closed-Loop for circulation in my tank... so my purpose in my return flow is mostly to get water from the tank down for my skimmer. Yes, I also have another pump in my sump for aux equipment (chiller, Calc-Reactor, Phosban Reactor, etc), but that equipment empties back into my sump, not my display.