increase water flow/turnover help?

I would like to increase the amount of flow and turnover in my tank. The chiller we have really slows the water down. We have a Rio Hyperflow 26 - rated at 1350 gph with 4' head. My estimate would be more like 350 gph because the water is pumped from the sump through the chiller & then to the return in the tank. We have a Koralia 3 & 4 (total 2050 gph).

That gives us a net flow rate of about 26 gph (add up all the pumps & divide by the size of the tank - 90).

I have heard that 42 - 50 gph is the range we should have. We have all soft corals at this time & 4 fish.

We were thinking about getting an external pump for the chiller, so our return would be much stronger. Would this work? What suggestions do you have?

I'm asking because we have red slime algae & I've read that increased flow will help. I'm just not sure on the best way to do it.

TIA,
julie

 

bump

 

Add two more Koralia 3's. Position two from the bottom facing up, perhaps, and two from the top, towards the front / bottom. Watch your tank and you'll get your flow right, so you have current everywhere, without putting dents in your sand .

Get a different pump for your chiller, and plumb it from the sump, back into the sump. Have your return pump go directly to the DT, ideally chopping the surface of the water a bit to help gas exchange and reduce surface film. You want 40-50x / hour turnover.

Just having the return provide all sorts of flow will still leave dead spots, unless you have a closed loop, you want more powerheads.

 

Boy I'm seeing a bunch of these...


I would get a bigger external pump that would run everything instead of buying another one and running it.

 

Great idea Scott, didn't think of that one as I read! That should help keep the heat down more than adding another pump would too!