Pump to tank size

[danny zubot]

I Guess I might b on the over kill side. 54 gallon corner tank with a Rio 20HF. Gives me about 1000gph after head loss, I use a spray bar run vertically down the back corner of the tank spraying out at a 90 degree angle. Maxi jet 1200 for a bit more flow to the front.

[danny zubot]

Nice avatar Allan!

[Aquattro]

Danny, I'd say the spray bar will cut that 1000gph down to nothing, unless you have it full of 1/4" holes.

[danny zubot]

I do, about a dozen to 15 per side and 1 on the very bottom. The bar is about 14 inches long and the holes are 1\4. It give a very even outward floe that seems efficient for a corner shaped tank.

[Canadian Man]

My return to my 230g is from a LG4mdqxsc(or something like that) pump. With restrictions it's about 900 to 1000 gph.

Nice a slow turn over rate from the sump but I have the same pump on the closed loop as well as a 2250gph tunze stream and a 3700gph stream.

[EmilyB]

Two returns on my 230g each with their own Little Giant. Ones a three and ones a four. I'm now thinking to cut this back to give the skimmer more time as Brad mentioned.

I got a couple of those new Seio pumps and I guess I must have been expecting something more. However, I probably should have gotten bigger ones.

Oh, and a Mak4 split into two returns on a 67g. That one seems perfect.

[Jack]

People should list thier drain sizes too. That might be handy to know for newbie's aswell.

[Quinn]

For what it's worth, I was running a Mag12 on my 150 gal, with a 2" overflow. I felt it was underpowered.

[sleeman]

I wish I had know that a mag 18 would be too much. I am thinking about putting a smaller pump on the sump and using the 18 for a closed loop.

AL

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

It looks like a lot of people here are trying to supply the tank water movement with their return pump. In fact, the slower the flow thru the sump, the more time the skimmer/heater/etc have to act on the water. You don't want to create 10x your tank volume goig thru your sump!.

I am going to disagree a little here (rare but yes once and a while it happens) I think you do want between 5 and 10x tank volume through your sump if you ware running the skimmer off you sump. if you only have 1X/hour flowing through your sump and you have a mag 12 on a 33 gal sump you are going to skim that sump aprox 30X per hour (assuming no loss so maybe 15X will be more realistic) but you will only be replacing the water totaly in the sump 1X per hour this will give you an ultra clean water sump and it will seam like your skimmer isn't doing much where as if you have a higher turn over in your sump/tank set up you will ensure more efficient skimming of the actual tank volume.

Steve