pumps

[buzzy]

hi do you think that 3x eheim 1060's will create enough flow for a 500l tank, 2 will be closed loops and 1 will be the return pump from the sump?what do you think??

[dogmatix]

Not to be rude but why bother ?

After youve paid for the plumbing the extra holes the pumps you'd be better off putting in a stream even if it was a non controllable one.

[buzzy]

hey dogmatix, the tanks already been drilled in the bottom for the closed loops so thought it would be easier to put the eheims on, sort of like how pies closed loops are setup?

[Bruce]

I agree with dogmatix, use a stream, plug the holes in the tank

/Bruce

[wasp]

I'd agree with a stream also, however if you want to go with the eheims, they pump I think 2,400 lph, so 3 of them would be 7,200 lph, or a turnover for your tank a little less than 15 x tank volume per hour.

A minimum turnover should be 10 times flow, so you would certainly be over the minimum. It then depends what sort of livestock you wish to keep, some only like high flow and some only like low flow. But you can probably have some areas in the tank with high flow, and some with low flow.

IMO a good general flow rate is around 20 x flow, for a mixed reef, this allows enough for some higher flow areas, and is probably enough to ensure no dead areas. My own tank has around 80 x flow, however there are some corals I cannot keep, it is too much for them.

[Duke]

Wasp do you count your sump volume in this number?

Is this calculated with or without rock?

Just thinking about the amount of flow I will need?

760l main tank & 100l sump

I was looking at 2 x streams (6100 - 12000l x hr)

1 x L7 return pump (6000l/hr at 2m head)

total 30,000l / hr / 760l tank volume = 40x turn over.

[wasp]

Yes the sump turnover & everything else is included, for me figuring rock was too complicated i just went by total volume.

Your suggested flow looks like it will be great.

[suphew]

Buzzy, go the closed loops, if you want to add a bit of randomness put them on timers.

To me the advanges are, cost (assuming you have or can get second hand pumps), being able to hide all the in/outlets and not have ugly pumps in the tank, good flow is under the rock work, and streams can be added later, closed loops are a bit harder to add.

The down side is there is a limit to how much flow around the corals you can get, once my SPS corals get a lot bigger and start reducing the flow I'm expecting to need to add some streams.

Interesting that most of the posters suggesting streams own or work in shops, lol, sorry guys had to say it.

Duke, for this type of movement it's all about the flow round the corals and rock work so you only really need to consider the volume of the display, it's a just rough number and normally people go for far more than 10 times, so it doesn't matter about the rock or if you count the sump or not.

Just a comment about your sump size, I'm using the same return pump and have a standard 4 foot tank as my sump (about 200l if it was full) I have problems with micro bubbles because the flow through the sump is so strong and will be going to a bigger sump once I get round to working it out. The L7 would empty my sump in about a minute if the downpipe was closed.

[Bruce]

Interesting that most of the posters suggesting streams own or work in shops, lol, sorry guys had to say it.

To me the advanges are, cost (assuming you have or can get second hand pumps),

Sure if the pumps are second hand then there will be a cost saving, and more pump maintainence of course, if however the pumps are brought new then streams are the way to go.

/Bruce