How much flow for a 55 gallon?

[lilfish717]

I have a 55 gallon pentagonal corner tank. It's probably about 30 inches tall. My tank is low dominant with some shrooms. I'm asking because I feel like I'm not getting enough flow. I currently have a eflux 660gph wavemaker in there. I don't know whether I need a new one. Thanks.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

I love gyre pumps but the vortechs are amazing too! :D

 

[TheGreatWave]

It's common to see tanks with 50 times turnover which would be about 2,750 GPH in your tank. If you don't think you need that much for shrooms you could of course do what you think is appropriate.

Say your 660 puts out around 550 GPH when a little dirty that has you at about 10 times right now.

 

[lilfish717]

I love gyre pumps but the vortechs are amazing too! :D

I was having trouble choosing. I went in there without a budget but still walked out with the cheapest controlled wavemaker lol. I was really looking at the mp10s.

 

[lilfish717]

It's common to see tanks with 50 times turnover which would be about 2,750 GPH in your tank. If you don't think you need that much for shrooms you could of course do what you think is appropriate.

Say your 660 puts out around 550 GPH when a little dirty that has you at about 10 times right now.

Do you think i should return this and get the set of 2 reflux 1050 gph would work? I'm also having trouble as to where to place them, what intensity to have them at, where to face them, what setting to put them on. I'm not used to having a wavemaker with so many options.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

I was having trouble choosing. I went in there without a budget but still walked out with the cheapest controlled wavemaker lol. I was really looking at the mp10s.

Yes! If budget isn’t a huge factor then 2 mp10s, and set them as needed. Best possible set up in a large amount of people’s opinions! I love the flat yet strong sheet of water from gyre pumps. You can set one down low on the back and flow upward!!

 

[TheGreatWave]

Do you think i should return this and get the set of 2 reflux 1050 gph would work? I'm also having trouble as to where to place them, what intensity to have them at, where to face them, what setting to put them on. I'm not used to having a wavemaker with so many options.

Sure, those would work.

Its not overly critical usually people have them ramp up and down from say 40% up to 100%, just depends on the choices they give you. It's the GPH that is important IMO. Wave modes just give you a little extra flexibility, some new wave makers run backwards which would be more useful then one that just ramps up and down.

Once you get the GPH up there it's not hard to get a good boiling type flow in the tank anyway.