Too much flow?? OR Adequate flow??

55 gallon tall w/20 gallon sump

Quiet 0ne 3000 (780 gph - 5ft head loss..returned via scwd)
aqua rio 2500 (782 gph - 5ft head loss...ran through chiller then return)
koralia 2 PH (600 gph)
koralia evolution 750 PH (750 gph)
Maxi jet 1200 (295 gph - 5 ft head loss...used for gfo/carbon reactor.

- Both koralias hooked up to a wavemaker.
- Quiet one 3000 returns pointed down and back along the back wall, so no dead spots behind rock.
- Aqua rio 2500 in sump, flows through chiller and returns to DT.
- Maxijet 1200 in sump, ran through dual reactor then returned to DT


Not sure if Im doin the math right with head loss and all but I am guestimating that I have around 2800 to 3000 gph.

Is this correct and is it ok??

 

mathematically it seems OK
although I would not include all of the above when calculating my tanks flow rate

the Maxijet returning after the reactors combined with head loss is not going to contribute much in terms of water flow through the DT

but even if you do add the sum total of all those and arrive at 3000 gph
that is 50+ times the tank capacity in flow rate and not excessive IME

the condition of your corals would be best indicator IMO


Steve

 

Definitely agree and felt the same about the maxijet, just wanted to include everything.

Again I agree about it not being excessive and my corals seem to be doing great. Since adding the koralia evolution and the wavemaker about a month ago, evrything in the tank seems to be happier.

So if I am roughly at 50 times turn over and this is working, my next question would be: How much flow should one have in a reef? ( I know there is no one answer fix all to this, but in general, whats the average one should try to achieve?)

Thanks!

 

depends to a very large extent as to the type of inhabitants you have

with my SPS 5ft long set up, I have over 80 x tank volume in power heads alone
not counting return pumps through chiller, or skimmer etc

yet if I tried for that much in my 4ft with Softies and LPS corals in, I doubt I would be able to spread the flow enough to prevent some of the corals being battered by the flow

so basically
for softies/ LPS I am around 40 x tank volume in flow at present but spread between 3 sources and thus distributed well throughout the tank

Steve

 

Thanks steve I got it....many factors come into play. I actually just read a thread posted by other fellow member mikejrice about flow. Thanks for you help! Greatly appreciated!

 

What are some good defusal methods I have a lps tank with a frogspawn some jasmine polyps and something else that looks like a xenia with a green center. If I play the ajustment game right so can get one low one mid and one high flow zones with two korelia 750 powerheads and the return from my canister filter which pushes about 220gph. The jasmine has to be in the low/nonexistant flow zone or else it gets whipped around the frogspawn dosent mind the medium flow zone but the other thing needs slower movement but I don't really have a whole lot of space for it to sit in the low flow with the jasmine polyps I have a 46gal bowfront