appropriate GPH range?

so if i get (2) 500gph powerheads, that brings me up to 2183gph in a 55gal, that's about 40x flow. is that too much? that seems like alot to me.

i was thinking 30x would be good? maybe just (1) 500gph powerhead?

 

you're stressing the numbers to much in my honest opinion. It's really a matter of the type of species of animals you wish to keep and what they prefer. Think about what kind of power a tidal lagoon really has, or a reef that's located 100yds off the surf break, or just any large mass of water moving through an inlet from the ocean, bayou, deltas, etc. these animals are prepared a little more than you may be given them credit for.

I guess there's some bias involved here and I apologize. I've grown up along the beach of central fl. I've been offshore fishing 13 miles out, been snorkeling inlets for lobster, I fish back country mangrove covered grass flats at least 7 months out of the year. I have the biggest aquarium/sump as my playground and always have. It's an awesome thing to experience, and I'm giving you this advice with not just a hobby perspective, but from an oceanography/marine biology perspective(in college I've taken a Marine bio and oceanography class, quite interesting and fascinating stuff right there !), as well as an angling/ hunting perspective. I see these habitats daily from a hands on view.

Sorry to give you my bio in less than 1000 characters but I'm just trying to say, your tanks not gonna know or really care too much if the xxxx gph is going thru it where you want it at yyyy.. You really need inhabitants in the tank to begin to really answer if these numbers will suffice. Chances are things will be fine following this "rule of thumb" thing floating around which states that this ie. 30X 40X turnover rate is magical. It's cause and effect. And a balance many reefers still play with. The numbers are just a measure, not a formula. You see what I'm trying to say. Get the coral you want, place it in the flow it desires, monitor health/growth, and adjust accordingly.

It will come in time young reefer. I have faith you will achieve a goal of a killer 55 gallon!

 

It really depends on the corals you want (fish can always find spots of low flow if they need a break). As snooknredz said you don't have to follow the turnover rule like one of the 10 commandments of reefing, its merely a guideline. You can have 40X turnover with spots of flow required by SPS (short polyp stony) corals.

I run 90X turnover in my tank (14 gallon biocube) but there are still spots of low flow, even a dead zone or two. Unless you plan on keeping only zoanthids and mushroom coral, more flow wouldn't hurt. Remember some softies love high flow. As Mr. Bill said, toadstools LOVE high flow, and have are often found on the reef crest in the ocean (flow here exceeds 100-150X turnover, most acropora are collected here).

The key is not to blast corals with constant high flow, even acropora don't like this and can lead to their death. I would look into a controller for your pumps, or a jebao wp25, or a votrech mp40 (you can create increasingly random amounts of flow, respective to the order I listed).

In general though 30X is suitable for mushrooms, zoanthids and similar types of coral, 40-60X for large polyp stony corals, with euphyllia (frogspawn, anchor, torch corals) being closer to the 40X spectrum and mycideum, echinophylia, and acanthastrea (chalice and acans) enjoying the higher end of the spectrum. 70-100X, keeping in mind not direct flow, is good for most SPS(acropora, montipora, stylophora, poccilopora, seriatopora) and some specific soft corals (sarcopython-toadstool, and photosynthetic gorgonians, gorgonian sp., pseudopterogorgia sp., peterogorgia sp, eucinea sp., and muriceopsis flavida. Stay away from diodogorgia sp., swiftia sp., and acalycigorgia sp., as they are non-photosynthetic.

hopefully I didn't overload you on information

 

gotcha. i guess i've just been following the "rule of thumb" alot.

i'll do some research on some corals i can find locally.

 

Just my own .02,I would not even consider the skimmer or hob to be contributing much to flow in the tank.Most people place their powerheads on opposite ends of the tank when using two.For a four foot tank such as your 55g,I would go with 750gph powerheads for soft corals and lps.

 

Yeah, agreed with others the guidelines are very general but for the most part a good starting place.
Scientifically for SPS they say flow at 2-4 inches per second. But then it also depends on a full colony vs a frag so inner branches can get flow. All that is probably getting a little advanced for where you are in the beginner stage so I would just shoot for the general guideline. You have months to do more research and read up on the subject/tweak/learn more/tweak again. Plenty of articles in the google searches and here on 3reef.

 

Unless using a smart phone. SPS=small polp stony coral, ie, acropra/montipora. LPS=large polyp stony coral, ie, acans, hammer, chalice. You just have to find places in your tank that corals like. I have a few colonies of acans and one of them hates flow, the other two love it. I wouldn't rely on hob filters or skimmers to provide flow, you need proper power heads and two 750gph would be great for a 55 gallon tank.

 

I agree that skimmers should not be counted, as the flow rate is misleading. A 300gph pump mixing air with water will produce far less flow than it's rating. OTOH, HOB filters are an excellent source; nearly 2/3rds of my flow comes from 2 HOBs. I wouldn't entertain the thought of dismissing 540gph flow in a 20g tank.

 

so basically what i'm hearing is that when i have...

skimmer- 500gph (doesn't count)
hob - 300gph (doesn't count)
canister filter- 383gph (count this?)

so basically i really only have 383gph so far?

and i'll need (2)750gph powerheads

totaling 1883gph, and that seems good enough to start?

also, i'm thinking hydor koralia powerheads. thoughts?

 

Are you going to be keeping corals? Sounds like a good place to start with the two power heads.