I started my tank out as a 15g cube and a 20gal sump. I elected to use a ehiem 1250 return pump (320gph at zero head) and ran it with 1/2" flex up to the tank. I eventually added a short 5 gal frag tank and decided to run another ehiem 1250 for a return because two of them fit perfectly in my pump chamber. I have just recently upgraded to a 40 breeder from the 25 cube and frag tank, but I am using the same sump setup with dual pumps. Because I already had them, I decided to run both eheims to the tank so if a pump ever failed there would still be circulation and heated water getting to the display. It was unintentional, but the backup is definitely a plus and it also helps to keep flow in the tank when doing my 6-month return pump cleanings.
When I first got the tank running it was cobbled together with the plumbing from the original tanks just so that I could quickly get all livestock and sand transferred over to avoid any mishaps or mini-cycles. Everything went smoothly and I have been running the tank for 3 or 4 weeks now in the currently configuration without any issues. Just yesterday I began to finally fix up the plumbing and decided to bump up to 3/4" return line to get a little more flow out of the pump. I'm using coralvue 3/4" bulkheads so that I can bump up a pipe size without modifying anything. I pulled some water out and swapped a single bulkhead to start and I put a plug in it so that I could start plumbing the one return while the other could still get water flowing from the sump. I just now swapped returns and I am running the new return plumbing while I plumb out the second one, and I was not expecting such a change in flow. I'll need to get out an old fluid dynamics textbook to get the actual numbers, but it seems like this single 3/4" return is putting out more flow than both the pumps did previously with the 1/2" plumbing combined.
Should I be worried about increasing the turnover through the sump this significantly, or was I just undersized to begin with? The majority of the sump is a fuge and I have been growing red gracilaria like a weed. I have a mandarin, scooter blenny, and two wrasses and this sump has been more than sufficient at supplying all of them with an influx of pods, I just don't want to be putting too much flow through the sump to the point that I may decrease the number of pods in the system. Am I worrying for nothing?
When I first got the tank running it was cobbled together with the plumbing from the original tanks just so that I could quickly get all livestock and sand transferred over to avoid any mishaps or mini-cycles. Everything went smoothly and I have been running the tank for 3 or 4 weeks now in the currently configuration without any issues. Just yesterday I began to finally fix up the plumbing and decided to bump up to 3/4" return line to get a little more flow out of the pump. I'm using coralvue 3/4" bulkheads so that I can bump up a pipe size without modifying anything. I pulled some water out and swapped a single bulkhead to start and I put a plug in it so that I could start plumbing the one return while the other could still get water flowing from the sump. I just now swapped returns and I am running the new return plumbing while I plumb out the second one, and I was not expecting such a change in flow. I'll need to get out an old fluid dynamics textbook to get the actual numbers, but it seems like this single 3/4" return is putting out more flow than both the pumps did previously with the 1/2" plumbing combined.
Should I be worried about increasing the turnover through the sump this significantly, or was I just undersized to begin with? The majority of the sump is a fuge and I have been growing red gracilaria like a weed. I have a mandarin, scooter blenny, and two wrasses and this sump has been more than sufficient at supplying all of them with an influx of pods, I just don't want to be putting too much flow through the sump to the point that I may decrease the number of pods in the system. Am I worrying for nothing?