How much is to much flow?

I have a 20 gal sump with a fuge setup on my 72 bowfront soon to be reef tank, right now its just a FOWLR. I have a 500gph pump and with head loss is getting around half that. I feel it is not enough. I have some kado (sp?) in the fuge and it doesn't roll around, it just sits at the bottom. I am considering adding a bigger pump, it just seems there is not enough flow coming from the output. What do you think? 1000GPH pump? It has about a 5 foot head space on it.

 

i used a rio 2100 on mine and it seems a little low as well. if i were to do it over i would get the rio 2500... hope this helps?
p.s. "cheato" i think is what you were saying?

 

I've always heard there's no such thing as "too much" flow only "incorrect" flow (meaning it's blasting right into something it shouldn't be).

 

Go with Two #3 Hydor Koralia's.....should be cool then.

 

Thanks Jeff....thats what I was TRYING to say...lol. I have two koreilas in the DT now, a #5 and a #2. I was more concerned about "filter flow" ... more flow thru the sump. I've heard the same thing Dr. B. I have the ph's aiming at the glass as to bounce the flow off of the LR and corals.

 

500GPH is low for a 72gal tank IMO. my 75gal tank is running on a 950GPH pump at the moment and i feel thats highly inadequate. im personally going with a quietone5000 to replace this thing. already have the 1" PVC in place for it. current pump uses a 1/2" hose to flow tip outlet.

i also intend to have a mp40w in the tank itself and my K1's if needed for any dead spots which i dont believe will be the case with the mp40 cranking out its massive undertow and reef crest wave patterns.

the quietone pumps seem to be the best bang for the buck. shop around they're priced between $60-120 for the 4000 and 5000 units. The only other pumps I can find with 1" MPT outlets are 1500+ GPH pumps which are ~$200+.

In my research for setting up my 75gal I found that anywhere between 4000GPH-5000GPH of water movement in the DT is necessary for heavy populated SPS. I had recommendations to use TWO Koralia 5 magnums in the DT + a 1300GPH return pump. Then I decided on one mp40 which takes the cake compared to the koralia 5's on a oceanpulse timer.

Hope this helps

 

That makes me feel better, I have this pump lying around at work, brand new so I was going to give it a try...

Pump, Utility, 1/4 HP - Sump Pumps - Sump, Effluent and Sewage - Pumps : Grainger Industrial Supply

at 5 ft. of head it will give me 27gpm which will be 1620gph, do you think that is enough when paired with the two korailas?

 

Remember, you should flow 8-15 times per hour.
hope this helps,
pan

 

Chad - What size and gage filter sock do you have in your sump? I have a 4" 100 Micron in my sump and I have had to reduce the flow twice to keep it from overflowing the sock. I started out with 1750GPH reduced it to 1250GPH and finally had to go down to 790GPH with a 21ft max head to get the proper movement through the sump.

 

I'm sorry, I'm not following you. Do you mean the tank should "turn over" that many times per hour? So 72 (gallons) x ??

BTW, great quote....I'm a big Steven Wright fan!