Turnover in a 58 g tank

[Dtilton]

Wow- third post! Thanks to all for the quick responses to my last 2 posts...

If you've followed my musings you know I'm buying a 58 gal Oceanic RR set up, will start out with LR and DSB, and then think about corals etc..... For the initial set up after cycling, probably just a few clowns. I'm planning on running a SQWD off the return from the sump to get some wave action going for now, and later upgrade to an OM 4 way or a few Tunzes. I want to buy a decent return pump and like the eheims.... Any suggestions on the flow I'll need? Not sure of the overflow on the Oceanic 58g RR- 600 GPH sticks in my head, so I want to match the return pump to that, right? I read SPS and so forth need 50x turnover per hour- how the heck do you attain that?

Buying tomorrow, so advice is very appreciated!

-Dan

 

[Liquid]

From what I've read, 50x would be a LOT of turnover. I think most people shoot for 20-30 if they are trying to keep SPS, but you can do it with less. Perhaps down as low as 10x.

The answer to your question depends upon what you are planning to keep. Are you going with an SPS dominated tank? If so, get as much flow as possible without disturbing the sand bed (20-30x would be ideal). Otherwise, you can make do with less flow.

 

[NateHanson]

You won't be able to provide sufficient flow for corals by using your return pump alone. (the only way to perhaps come close would be to use penductors - look those up on here, and see if you like that idea).

Otherwise, you'll need to supplement the flow with a closed loop or some kind of powerheads (maxijets, seio's, tunzes, etc) I suspect a tunze would be more flow than you want in your tank, so I'd recommend looking at the small-version maxi-jet mods sold by Reefdom, or think about setting up a closed loop before you've got water in your tank.

For a return pump, make sure you oversize it. You overflow will probably handle about 600-900 gph, but instead of buying a 600gph rated pump, you need to take into account the flow-losses associated with a SQWD, your plumbing, and the vertical distance from your sump water level to your tank water level. You'll probably wind up wanting a 1000-1200 gph pump in the end. You can always use a ball valve on the output of your return pump to reduce the flow (this doesn't hurt a pump), but you can never increase the flow from a pump, so if in doubt, go slightly larger (especially since you're using a SQWD which can really drastically reduce the flow from pump.

Nate

 

[MikeG]

As far as how to do that, you can use tunze's as you mentioned above. You could use a closed loop with the ocean motion when you get it. The other option is powerheads in the display. If you are going with SPS the more flow the better. I am setting up a 125 and have about 7000gph going through the display. That is 56 times turn over per hour.

 

[Dtilton]

Thanks Liquid-

even with 20x turnover that's still almost 1,200 GPH in a 58. How do you do that with a 600 gph overflow? Is turnover actual water going through the sump and protein skimmer, or is it just moving it around, like with a closed loop or tunze? You cam tell I'm such a newb!!! -Dan

 

[NateHanson]

For comparison in my SPS 65g, I used a seio 820, a mag7 closed loop (sometimes) and a 1200gph-rated external pump through a penductor for the return. My total flow was probably about 4000 gph inside the tank.

 

[NateHanson]

Thanks Liquid-

even with 20x turnover that's still almost 1,200 GPH in a 58. How do you do that with a 600 gph overflow? Is turnover actual water going through the sump and protein skimmer, or is it just moving it around, like with a closed loop or tunze? You cam tell I'm such a newb!!! -Dan

It really doesn't matter how much water goes through your sump (as long as there's a few hundred gph to feed the skimmer and fuge). Where you need the flow is INSIDE the tank, so the most efficient way is actually to NOT pump it through the sump, but rather put the majority of your flow within the tank or on closed loop systems.

Nate

 

[Dtilton]

Thanks Nate and Mike! You typed faster than me and gave me the answers to the questions as I was posting!

Looking forward to the next meeting so I can pick up more info in person!!!

-Dan

 

[Steve H]

I use a Mag 9.5 running wide open for my return pump in my 58g, that with 2 modified MJ1200's produces a lot of flow

 

[merk1_99]

In my 55 I have to Seio 620's(600 gph per), and a return pump with penductor on the return nozzle (pump rated at 1000gph). So I am willing to guess I am getting 2500 GPH turnover from the penductor. So I would guess my tank is in the 3200-4000 range also. If I wasn't upgrading I would dump the two seio's for to Seio 1100's. Or if the tank was empty would go closed loop with two outputs with penductors on them...That is actually what I am going to do on my new 75...