Water Movement?

Flounder · 11-26-2006, 10:56 PM

I know that every tank is different, but mine has a turn over rate of about 7x per hour....on a good day. I have a 200 gallon reef wanna be tank. What do you all have for water flow?
Flounder?

Geoff · 11-26-2006, 11:17 PM

i have 7000gph in my 125g tank. i plan on adding another ~6000gph to this in the near future.

i only have about 500gph going through my sump though.

G~

danjen10 · 11-26-2006, 11:18 PM

I have about 3500 in a 125 with about 1500 additional on the way.

Flounder · 11-27-2006, 07:42 PM

How many times should my tank cycle (inside) just getting the flow up? You guys are around 20x? Is there an average goal?
Flounder

Fly Guy · 11-27-2006, 07:49 PM

20x is as low as any reef tbank should be IMO....unless you are doing seahorses and mushrooms only.

I have 35x and 50x in my tanks....i think Geoff is more like 55x and planning on upgrading.....

110galreef · 11-27-2006, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

i have 7000gph in my 125g tank. i plan on adding another ~6000gph to this in the near future.

i only have about 500gph going through my sump though.

G~

Ignore Geoff...he's had one too many guiness's! j/k but he is definitly on the WILD side of flow!

Depending on what you plan to keep will somewhat predicate your flow.

If you have amixed reef of softies and LPS than 15x-40x will be fine and great. Up to you and your budget. If you plan SPS and fewer softies..than 40x-100x+ plus would be great. Again up to you!

I currently have a mixed reef softies, LPS and clams and plans for some SPS. I setup a CLS with about 3500 GPH flow (~30x turnover) and my sump flows and additional 500gph (5x's turnover) I have 110 gallon tank with about 4000 gph flow ~35x's turnover. FISH and corals all love it!

110galreef · 11-27-2006, 08:16 PM

FWIW I had my reef with LPS and softies for three years with only 10x's turnover and all did great.

They do seem to like the higher flow now as do the fish. So it is doable. I just think growth is slowed with a little on the low flow side!

Geoff · 11-27-2006, 09:21 PM

hey now, i will let you know that i am out of Guiness right now.

anyway. what you need to know is what each of us are keeping in our system. i am keeping fuzzy sticks (SPS) these require huge amounts of flow to be happy. as they grow they block more and more of the flow in the tank. it is important to keep the flow high so that the lower branches do not die. in most tanks this is not as much of a concern.

in softie tanks you can easily get away with a lot less flow. as long as you are able to keep as much of the detritus suspended in the water column so that the skimmer can take it out you are good.

G~

110galreef · 11-27-2006, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

hey now, i will let you know that i am out of Guiness right now.

G~

Sorry to hear your loss!

xtopher · 11-27-2006, 10:31 PM

I am running aroun 55x per hour but would gladly do more (if the funds permitted

)

1spotpooalot · 11-27-2006, 11:12 PM

I am running about 10-15x in my 72 (depending on the area of the tank). I keep my sps`s in the higher flo/higher light areas and they do very well.

wharyat · 11-27-2006, 11:17 PM

I'm one of the crazy ones. I run around 3500gph in my 20, soon to be around 5500. I like to feed a lot and I don't like detritus.

motorslave · 11-28-2006, 02:09 AM

Lots of flow is nice! I had about 35 to 40 x turnover in my 150, 40 x in a 55 and will have about 15 to 25 in a 75. Flow is great but making that flow work for you is better! Designing flow to keep the poop susbended is key. The better the flow design the less you can get away with to a point.

Sprayin70 · 11-28-2006, 03:02 AM

I have a 75 gallon with a Tunze 6060 in it for flow. Just the Tunze makes it 24x turnover. I use a mag 9.5 for a return pump so I guess that could be acounted for too. I may add another Tunze 6060 in the future.

Nyles · 11-28-2006, 03:09 AM

45 times flow now planning at end of year another 38 times flow addition to about 80 times turnover. (SPS dominant tank)