Brainstorming

[Snprhed]

Ok so you have a big sump, we'll say a 125 gallon.You run an sps prop tank (58), a display tank (57) and an LPS prop tank (40) all running off of the 125. So you want low nutrient on the sps, moderate on the display and a little higher on the LPS. Assuming all tanks dump into the same area of the sump are skimmed and chaetoed and then sent back too all three of the tanks. Could you help hit the targeted nutrient load by changing the flow to each tank? All tanks would have internal pumps so appropriate flow would be delivered to each type of coral. Essentially the lps would only flow, say 100 gal an hour. The display 200, and the sps 300. You can obviously change those numbers to whatever you want, the theory is what Im interested in. The idea came from the when I had high nitrates long ago, a 25% water change barely moves the level. Its repeated large ones. I think you would want a valve to adjust it. This is a design I plan on trying to implement, so I used the tanks I plan on using. Any input is appreciated

 

[Electrobes]

I don't think this will work because while restricting flow may temporarily keep some nutrients within certain tanks, you're also limiting how much filtration they get from the sump. Realistically, to achieve what you are looking for you would either have to keep separate systems or maybe place filtration units on tanks that need it (Not in the sump). I think placing something like reactors on tanks you want lower nutrients in would probably be your best bet if you want all the systems tied together. I am not sure just how well confined you have have the tanks, even with restricted flow.. but I think that would be your best option.

 

[btkrausen]

I use a single pump to feed two different tanks from my sump, in which one is exactly half of the size of the other. I have valves to restrict the amount of flow into the smaller one, while giving the display tank as much as I want. The rest of the return pumps water is sent back into the sump. With multiple valves and a "last resort" T back into your sump with a valve, you could easily accomplish this.

 

[drainbamage]

you're going to accomplish the flow rates no problem, but you're not going to accomplish your nutrient goals that way-

Not trying to sound harsh, but have you taken differential equations? You could set up a fairly basic equation to give you a time value of how long before you had complete distribution of the two different fluids (the low-nutrient starter tank, and the regular-nutrient main system water.) Even with a small trickle of flow, it's not going to be very long before you have equal distribution, unless;

You have the sps tank have some additional filtration that only filters it's water- such as an internal skimmer (maybe a tunze 9002?) or even a hang-on. Problem is it still won't be much better unless you heavily compensate the lack of system flow by adding several powerheads. In both these cases, you might as well just have the SPS system be separate. I run a 30 gallon SPS frag tank with the aforementioned tunze skimmer and powerheads and though not perfected (I still have some LPS's in there that require food, will be changing that soon.)