Flow question

Ok couldn't find any other place to ask this, so yah. im very new to the hobby and im trying to get most of my stuff ordered, but im not sure what kinda of Flow setup i need. So with that i have a 40g breeder DT and a 20g refugium/sump. i have a Mag 3 pump as my return (350 gph) and im using the U-Tube HOB overflow box, its a 300gph max. So im at 300gph i would assume

Doing a REEF TANK SETUP BTW
if i remember correctly i want to turn my tank over 10x per hour or am i way off or was it maybe 20X per hour maybe?

Know im trying to find a good setup with some power heads. i just dont know if i should get like 2 power heads to make up the extra flow i need or if i should be getting oh just say 4 power heads.

the setup i would like is something that would move or adjust my power heads to mix up the water flow. is that what a wave maker is? any setup ideas would be great. as a reminder im just starting out so being able to add the moving unit latter would really help out the wallet.

thanks for the help

 

what kind of corals do you want to keep in your tank and what is your budget

 

well im wanting to try to keep

Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Giant Green Polyp Duncanopsammia - Aquacultured
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Forest Green Galaxea Coral - Aquacultured
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Blue Ridge Coral - Aquacultured
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Hodag's Montipora Coral - Aquacultured
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Colony Polyp
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Waving Hand, Thick Stem
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Frogspawn Coral - Branched

i like all that stuff.

 

Do a web search about aquarium head pressure the higher your return pump has to pump the water = lesser gallons per hour.Im not a reefer(I have FOWLR Tanks)but what what I've heard you want between 10-20 turnovers per hour so you will need additional powerheads for flow in DT.I had a 40B tank setup with a Mag 9.5 on it but I use CPR CS Overflows they handle more water and don't use that u tube.Good Luck.

 

You won't get 300 GPH at the normal 4 to 5 feet of head between a sump and display tank with the Mag 3. With fittings and line loss its going to be right at 200-225 which is still fine for a system your size, you don't want high velocities in your sump anyway.
I would make up the difference with two Koralia #2 powerheads. They have magnetic mounts and can be positioned in all sorts of directions, I move mine every few days to vary the flow patterns.

 

I would suggest a mag 5 or 7 or an Eheim 1260 (very quiet pump) but your overflow box wouldnt be able to handle it. I would get a few Koralia 2 or 3's for your system, two or three should do it depending on how much rock you have. Flow is very underrated but very important in reef tanks. I have 600gph through my sump and 2 K4's in my 65g (same footprint as your tank just taller) and will be adding another K4 soon.

 

I figured out that it is a wave maker that I'm going to want to be able to add some time or another.
I found this one WaveMaster Pro Aquarium Wavemaker
is it any count or should I look at somthing alse. Oh yah would it work with the Hydor Koralia Power heads? . I have noticed alot of LFS that use that power head in most of their tanks.

 

+1 to your return pump being fine, sumps don't need a ton of flow. A couple Koralias would be good, for what you want to keep I would go with 20-30x your tank volume in total in-tank flow so I would try to get 2-3 Koralias to add up to maybe 1000-1200gph. More smaller pumps will produce more chaotic (ie better) flow than one large pump, so you have to weight more smaller sources and how much clutter they add to getting a good amount of flow. I think in a 40 2 Koralias would be fine though most likely.

 

Well I ended up getting a mag 5 for my return pump and I have my return plumbing setup with a ball valve so I can adjust the actual return flow. The extra frow is dumped into the skimmer area. Just to note I have my sump setup so that the overflow from the DT drops into the skimmer area but I have a ball valve their so that I can redirect water over to the Refugi area, so it can have a slower flow then the rest of the sump. Another words my sump has 3 areas. Skimmer area on left, return in the center, refugi to the right. Of course bubble trap between each area.

So know that I have. Mag 5 instead of the mag 3 should I still use the Koralia #2 powerheads or would that be tomuch flow for a mostly LPS?

I still haven't found a nice wavemaker yet that would work with the Koralia #2 powerheads so any ideas would be great. I did run across this though Reef Aquarium Water Pumps & Powerheads: VorTech Propeller Pumps it seems kinda costly though. Your thought please.

Thanks

 

IMO I don't thing you should use the Koralias for a wavemaker. If you unplug them and plug them back in they make a bad sound for a second until the armature in the motor is centered and spinning. I don't think they are made to be turned on and off repeatedly.