Sump Water Flow..how is yours?

[3Twenty5]

I am curious how my sump watre flow stacks up, I was having microbubbles and have now throttled back my 1 1/2" Drain pipe to half and now the sump water movement is enough for the pump to run full bore and the sump has good surface movement but it does not blast away. My sump before looked liek a bathtub running water, so since this is my first sump I am trying to figure out how the flow is in other peoples sumps. I figured if the water flow is enough to feed my pump fine then it should be fine? Any comments?

[thefatman]

many people feel, as do i, that if you have adequate flow in the main tank, via a cls or power heads, etc.. that you dont need a lot of flow through the main tank. only enough to feed the skimmer.

when i set up my 95, (75 display, 20L refugium) i'm using a pretty hefty pump on my cls/spray bar. but a rather small mag5 for my sump. and probably a mag 5 on the skimmer as well.

right now, my 55' sump is running an equivalent to a mag 5, supplemented by two aquaclear 402's in the display.

[3Twenty5]

I guess I should have mentioned that sorry, I am runnign 2 - Mag12s ..One for the Open system thru the sump, the other in a Closed Loop System using a SCWD. So I have plenty of flow in the tank, just concerned that the water level is only 1/2" lower in my overflow. I am thinking I can just lower my durso pipe for that

[Reefer Addict]

I use a Mag5 for my sump return at a 6' head so I'm getting around 200-250gph through the sump (a 10 gallon tank).
I think a good rule of thumb is 4-5x the tank volume running through it... so I'm right in the ballpark.
As you've discovered, if you run too much water through the sump (relative to it's size) you'll have a problem with bubbles, and detritus won't settle in the sump and keep blowing around in the water.

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Keep talking guys as I am learning when the day comes I see up a sump for my big tank!