Flow rate?

DeepSeaReefer7 · Mar 21, 2016

Hey I'll be setting up a 60 cube in a few months I got the eshopps nano refugium which limits what I can have for a return pump because the return chamber is quite small
How many gallons per hour is recommended for a 60 cube?
I was looking at the sicce 3.5 (660gph)
Didn't know if it was to much or to little

Any advice would be great thanks in advance

Brandon42 · Mar 21, 2016

More is usually better. How much head will it have? It slows down quick the higher up you go. Iv got a 900gph on my 125 and it has to go through a uv as well so I estimate I'm getting about 650gph and my tank looks great. So That one may even be too big depending on how much of a turn over you want.

DeepSeaReefer7 · Mar 21, 2016

Brandon42 said:
More is usually better. How much head will it have? It slows down quick the higher up you go. Iv got a 900gph on my 125 and it has to go through a uv as well so I estimate I'm getting about 650gph and my tank looks great. So That one may even be too big depending on how much of a turn over you want.

How do you tell exactly for the head pressure?

Brandon42 · Mar 21, 2016

i think it depends on the pump. see if you can get a chart for it off the website for the pump.

Viracon13 · Mar 21, 2016

I'm a fan of more flow; reason being it helps prevent detritus settling. I keep my flow around 35-40x my display tank volume and in my opinion, that helps tremendously with keeping my tank clean. Keep in mind, the size of your tank, aquascape and powerhead quantity/location will play a role in what impact the flow is having. In my previous tank (10-15x), I had to use a turkey baster on my rocks every now and again to remove all the detritus that would settle on it. No need with a couple wavemakers in there; just have to keep up with replacing my filter socks. I'd have my flow higher but I've had to adjust it a couple times because the flow was taking out some of my LPS. I have friends with amazing SPS only tanks going 80-100x display tank volume.

Brandon42 · Mar 21, 2016

Viracon13 said:
I'm a fan of more flow; reason being it helps prevent detritus settling. I keep my flow around 35-40x my display tank volume and in my opinion, that helps tremendously with keeping my tank clean. Keep in mind, the size of your tank, aquascape and powerhead quantity/location will play a role in what impact the flow is having. In my previous tank (10-15x), I had to use a turkey baster on my rocks every now and again to remove all the detritus that would settle on it. No need with a couple wavemakers in there; just have to keep up with replacing my filter socks. I'd have my flow higher but I've had to adjust it a couple times because the flow was taking out some of my LPS. I have friends with amazing SPS only tanks going 80-100x display tank volume.

Is that total flow like powerheads included or just with the return pump?

Viracon13 · Mar 21, 2016

Sorry, think I misinterpreted your initial post to be about tank flow, not specifically return pump flow.

Yes, I was referring to total flow. The return pump on my 75 gallon gives me about 500-600 gph. Then two wavemakers totaling 2000 gph or so.

There are calculators online that can help you determine your flow output after head loss based on your PVC pipe diameters, and horizontal/vertical lengths from the return pump to the output. I've always found it best to have a pump that can give me an output of 100-200 gph more than my tank can drain. Then I'll add a ball valve on my return line so I can throttle it down just a bit to give me the right flow. Your tank's manufacturer should have info on their website on how much your tank can drain. There may be standard values out there based on your tank size and drain size.

DeepSeaReefer7 · Mar 22, 2016

Viracon13 said:
Sorry, think I misinterpreted your initial post to be about tank flow, not specifically return pump flow.

Yes, I was referring to total flow. The return pump on my 75 gallon gives me about 500-600 gph. Then two wavemakers totaling 2000 gph or so.

There are calculators online that can help you determine your flow output after head loss based on your PVC pipe diameters, and horizontal/vertical lengths from the return pump to the output. I've always found it best to have a pump that can give me an output of 100-200 gph more than my tank can drain. Then I'll add a ball valve on my return line so I can throttle it down just a bit to give me the right flow. Your tank's manufacturer should have info on their website on how much your tank can drain. There may be standard values out there based on your tank size and drain size.

Thanks I'll check it out

DeepSeaReefer7 · Mar 22, 2016

Viracon13 said:
Sorry, think I misinterpreted your initial post to be about tank flow, not specifically return pump flow.

Yes, I was referring to total flow. The return pump on my 75 gallon gives me about 500-600 gph. Then two wavemakers totaling 2000 gph or so.

There are calculators online that can help you determine your flow output after head loss based on your PVC pipe diameters, and horizontal/vertical lengths from the return pump to the output. I've always found it best to have a pump that can give me an output of 100-200 gph more than my tank can drain. Then I'll add a ball valve on my return line so I can throttle it down just a bit to give me the right flow. Your tank's manufacturer should have info on their website on how much your tank can drain. There may be standard values out there based on your tank size and drain size.

This is what I found not much on their website

Viracon13 · Mar 29, 2016

If your drain and return sizes match those listed there, then your tank's drainage capabilities are 600 gph. Your return pump output should match this AFTER you take into account the head loss based on the distance it has to travel and other fittings incorporated into the plumbing. The link below has a calculator that can help figure that out. Like I previously said, I like my return pump to be a little higher than this and add a ball valve to the return line in order to balance it out.

http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/head-loss-calculator