pump and circulation

I have a 45 gallon tank and a 20 gallon sump. I was looking to get 3 hydor nano 425gph for circulation and possibly putting a wave maker on them. What size return pump would u recommend? Is that too much circulation? I need some help, any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

 

Will it be a reef tank? If so, what type of corals do you plan to keep?

 

I certainly don't think 3 425's is too much. I have 2 425's in my 28 nano, and I am thinking about adding another. In my 46 bow, I have 2 550's and 2 750's, no sump though.

Now, is this going to be a reef tank, or FOWLR? That will really determine how much flow you should have. A wavemaker is a good idea either way.

For a return pump, you should be looking for something that will flow in the 300-450 GPH range (taking into account the head loss). I have a Marineland NJ3000 on my 55 (flows about 525 GPH) and love it. You could probably get away with the next size down.

 

I've heard for return pumps you want to shoot for a 5x-10x turnover of your sump, so about 100-200 gph of flow at the returns (aka you need to calculate it so that: pump flow - head loss = 100-200gph). Going any higher than that won't really help you as the filtration probably won't be able to keep up with the extra anyway.

 

Good point. I don't know why I had 5-10 X tank volume in my head. More like 3-5 should work fine. so 150-200 is what I would aim for. Thanks for clarifying that.

 

i would say something that puts out 200gph after compensating for head pressure to keep it at about 10x turn over rate in the sump....a mag3 will probably work well for you

 

Thanks for the input. I plan on it being a reef tank, with some torch, some mushrooms, some polyp and some xenia

 

As far as fish, maybe some clownfish

 

I just started a 75g FOWLR (until the tank matures) then i'll go reef. I have a 20g sump too and I went with a Ehiem Compact 2000 pump for my return. It's adjustable for flow right on the pump and while i only just got through my cycle it has been flawless, exceptionally quiet and has a small footprint.

I highly recommend this pump.

 

For a return pump, I have always shot for 5 x tank volume. I know this seems a bit low but you want your water to have as much contact with the skimmer and fuge (if it is in sump) as possible. As far as circulation goes, my rule of thumb is 40 x tank volume or more, depending on what you are going to keep.