Overflow power

I hope someone can shine some light for me. I built my own refugium for a 90gal reef. The return pump is a Rio 2500. But I think my over flow is to small. I would like to know how many gal per hour should be moved for a 90 gal reef?

 

the norm is 10 x turnover for a sump, less for a fuge. I have an iwaki rated at 1200 gph @ 4' head on my 125 that seems to be doing great. how big is the hole in your drain pipe at the box? if its 1' it should be draining about 600 gph.

~Will.

 

It's 1 inch. But it seems like not enough. I have a turn valve on the pump and its tuned maybe 1/4 of a turn.

 

I have the exact same setup....but a 72g bow. My rio 2500 is all the way open. My overflow is also 600gph. I turn my pump on all of the way and make sure no bubbles accumulate in the overflow u tube. It does the trick for my 72 but I would probably increase the turnover if I upgraded to a 90.

 

Ok, your pump size is fine. Might be slightly on the small side but ok for your application. The key is to make sure you can control the amount of water it pumps back to the display tank. Depending on equipment in your sump you can use as little as 2x capacity turn over per hour to as much as 10x. The only thing you are concerned with for turn over rates is the conditioning of your water. So the equipment your are using in your sump should determine the amount of flow you require. Just make sure you use a valve on the return side of your pump to give you the ability to control the return flow which will also control the drain flow.

As far as your overflow goes, your pump is rated at about 525 gallons per hour at a 4 ft lift so I would want an overflow rated between 400 and 600 GPH.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks all this info was very helpful