how many gpm through a sump tank

[jeffseal]

Is there a rule of thump for water flowing through a sump tank? If my tank has 2 1.5" bulk heads 150 gallon tank how much flow is too much flow through the sump tank? I am trying to size my pump.

[gtoon159]

The best rule of thumb I have heard is to run just as much as your skimmer is rated for. The problem with running tons of flow with your return pump is micro bubbles and too little time for skimming while in the sump.

My recomedation is to run a similar size as the skimmer inlet and then run a closed loop for extra flow. Check out what Mark has to say on the subject. He is very knowledgeable.

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

HTH
George

[Geoff]

i also prefer to keep the flow through my sump equal to the amount of water my skimmer can process. the more water you run through a sump the harder it is to keep it quiet also. it makes more sense to use Tunze or CLS's for more flow.

G~

[tashier]

I've been mulling that same question and have even taken a poll on it.

http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81109

It seems some people suggest matching the skimmer rate but most people don't do that. It's true though the more water through the sump the louder and more difficult to keep skimmer bubbles from going into the tank. Up to you to decide.

[jeffseal]

how often the the tank need to cycle through the sump?

[tashier]

Your TOTAL water movement in the tank should be at least 10x your tank size. So for a 150 you should be moving 1500GPH whether it be through your sump or powerheads or closed loop. Most people do a lot more than 10x. If you go with the skimmer matching theory, say your skimmer does 500gph, you'd be running 500gph through your sump. Then you'd need to find additional ways to move the remaining 1000gph around your tank such as powerheads or closed loop. I think that's the basic concept. You CAN move more water through your sump if you don't care if it matches the skimmer (most people don't match the skimmer). There will eventually be a limit to how much you can run through your sump such as overflows and bulkheads. You may also have microbubble problems with a lot of flow.

HTH
Sean

[jeffseal]

i was looking at melev's site on sumps and want to do a type f style.... One thing i dont understand in this type F

http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/f/sump_f.html

is how the water gets to the refugium? is does part of the water that gets pumped from the return zone get pumped back into the refugium? if so is the amount controled with the valves? does having the refugium in this position do anything other than haveing a deeper refugium compared to a intake refugium return setup?

[jeffseal]

I answered my own question... Since i have two drain lines i think i am going to do it this way and put one drainline to the refugium and one to the skimmer. is doing this a bad idea should it be 50/50 or do i need to slow one down with a valve?

[Geoff]

forget about a fuge. just something else to mess with that does not do anything usefull for your system.

ok, Geoff's fugeresistant suite is on.

what skimmer are you looking at getting? i do not see any reason to put more water through a sump than what a skimmer can process. i would rather use the other drain as an inlet for a CLS system.

G~

[gtoon159]

The F model is basically the sump I run. I would recommend the Fuge especially if you are going to run Bare bottemed in your tank. I personally run Miracle mud in my fuge and a Deap sand bed in the tank.

For your overflow situation I would recomend plumbing both overflows together and then put in a valve to limit the flow into the fuge. Just a recomendation. That way you have the ability to change the flow the way you want to instead of just moving 50% one side and 50% the other.

In this design the amount of flow into the fuge would not be counted in the sump flow for the skimmer sizing caculation.

So lets say your skimmer runs 500 GPH. You would want around 700 GPH return pump to allow the other flow into the refugium.

George.