I finally have the tank up and running and have a couple of questions about the flow. I have a 36 x 18 55 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. The tank is going to be an all sps reef. I wanted to have a lower flow from the sump to allow the filtration to work well with the skimmer and fuge and get most of the circulation with the wavemaker in the tank. What is a good flow rate from the return pump for my setup? How much flow in the display from the internal pumps?
Flow Rate
- Thread starter Reefried
- Start date
I think it’s recommended to be at like 40x flow rate. I’m at about 45-50 at the peak hours in my mixed reef tank and nem tank
That’s combined wave makers and return pump total
Your plan seems to be the new norm, and it does make sense to give the equipment and/or fuge time to process the water.
Mine is setup exactly like that, with 10x in the tank with a gyre and powerhead, and the return is limited considerably. I'd guess it's running at maybe 200gph (90 gallon tank, ~70G total water).
I probably won't be keeping much SPS, so I selected DC equipment that can be easily throttled. Based on watching how they work, I'd highly recommend a gyre for you. The gyres move a LOT of water, so I'm not entirely sure the ratings really mean much considering how they work.
Mine is setup exactly like that, with 10x in the tank with a gyre and powerhead, and the return is limited considerably. I'd guess it's running at maybe 200gph (90 gallon tank, ~70G total water).
I probably won't be keeping much SPS, so I selected DC equipment that can be easily throttled. Based on watching how they work, I'd highly recommend a gyre for you. The gyres move a LOT of water, so I'm not entirely sure the ratings really mean much considering how they work.
To clarify: my return pump is the Jebao DCP-4000. It has a rating for ~1100GPH. At the lowest setting, it looks to be somewhere around 600-700GPH based on the charts from Jebao, then lose approximately 100GPH for every foot of lift.
