78 Gallon Cube - How Much Flow
 

Im in the process of planning a new tank, been away from reef keeping for a few years and would like some feedback prior to making any purchases.

The tank is 78 gallon (30x30x20=78 gallons)

As of right now here is my proposed equipment list:

-250 watt PFO MH, 20 K bulb, Reefluxse reflector
-Sequence Barracuda close loop pump (4500 gph)
-Ocrean motion 4 way
-Closed loop returns to be located on the bottom in each corner

Undecided Equipment
-sump return pump (500 gph)
-skimmer

Total GPH= 5000
64 times tank turnover per hour

Proposed Fish:
-firefish x2
-yellow tang
-chromis x6
-clowns x2

Maybe:
-hippo tang
-pygmy angel

What are your thoughts on these fish - will they be effected by my proposed flow? I want to see my fish not have them hide.

As for coral....

SOFTIES:
-Zoas
-GSP

LPS:
-Hammer
-Flog spawn
-Bubble Coral
-Brain
-Candy Cane
-Shelve leathers

SPS:
-undecided but only a few.

Please provide feedback on equipment and gph based on stock list.
I'm also looking for skimmer suggestions.
Should I go with a BB or sand bottom?

thanks

As far as skimmers go, needle/mesh wheel skimmers seem to be the popular choices these days. Its really up to you and how much you want to spend. For a return pump....you might want to decide on a skimmer first then base your return pump on what best suits your skimmer.

I have budgeted $400 for a skimmer... hoping to pick up a really good used one or take suggestions on new ones in that price range.

Is it possible to run the skimmer and return on the same pump?

What do you think of my turnover and flow rate? to high or should I be ok?

Might be lot of movement for a tank that's mainly going to be soft and LPS (usually low-med flow listed) or at least hard to find areas within the tank with pockets of lower flow.

Never heard a Barracuda but wondering if noise might be a concern?

For in-sump return pumps, I'm quite pleased with my Sedra pumps. Eheims are also supposed to be very good, power-efficient & quiet.

Yes you can feed your skimmer with the return pump, your pump will just have to be sized accordingly.

The Barracuda is sequence pump?

I thought most skimmers came with pumps?
What skimmers would you recommend in the 300-400 dollar range that don't come with pumps?

There are alot of skimmers that are recirculating, meaning that the skimmer pump's sole purpose is to make foam. Thus requiring a supply to feed the skimmer. You are probably going to have to spend a little more scratch if you want a "good" skimmer that your going to be happy with, then again you might find a good deal on a used one. This would be a good choice for your tank and a good deal IMO.

Barracuda is a Reeflo but seems Reeflo is a division of MDM/Sequence.

I'm kind of wondering if 64x turnover might be a tad on the wild side for the livestock you're thinking of. It'd probably be awesome for an SPS tank but if you're thinking of things like open brains, Euphyllia (torch/frogspawn/hammer/etc), Plerogyra (bubble), you could probably make do with a bit less. On the other hand, maybe they'll still do OK but the flipside would be that you could probably save a couple bucks if you went with some smaller pumps.

You may also want to go with BB. If it were me I might try a 1" sand bed but be ready to go BB instead if it kept shifting around. 64x turnover is a lot, I have probably more like 20-30x turnover on my cube tank and if I don't have things pointed "just right" then the sand ends up in a big pile in the corner.

I ran my old ritteri tank (72gal bowfront) running the sump return and skimmer off the same pump. It worked, but I found that that I had to valve back the sump return line in order to drive the pressure up enough in the pipe to drive the skimmer properly. This was because it was a non-recirculating style skimmer. With a recirculating skimmer, you don't need the feed line to be pressurized, just provide a little bit of flow. I can't remember the exact recommendation for optimal skimmer feed flowrate, but I think it's somewhere near 1.5 times the system volume per hour. Anyhow, basically, not very much, so the majority of the flow from the pump would still be available for the sump return or closed loop or whatever you're using it for.