Whats the turnover through your sump?

[DrBoxedWine]

I'm deciding on what overflow and return pump to get for my 75g reef tank with 30g sump and refugium. I'll have an RO NWB 150 skimmer.

LifeReef sells a 600 gph as well as a 1200 gph overflow. Would there be any benefit to getting the 1200 GPH overflow? Is that going to be too much flow through my refugium?

Is the 600 enough? After scaling it back a little that will only leave me with 400 gph or so turnover. I'll have some circulation pumps (1500 gph or 2000 gph) on top of this.

What would you guys do if you were me? Should i save the $80 and get the smaller overflow?

Thanks in advance!

[sirreal63]

My system is about 130 gallons and I am running about 350-400 through my sump, it is more than enough. Tank is a 110 by the way.

[DrBoxedWine]

Thanks Sirreal, would increasing it help to keep the water more clear? I liked a more "polished" look

[toky916]

I'm over kill have 500gph on my 65gal

[DrBoxedWine]

Originally Posted by toky916

I'm over kill have 500gph on my 65gal

Do you think it's any different than going lower? I should have said in my original post that I like the "polished water" look of really clean, clear water . In my FW tanks ive achieved this, but I am wondering if it's as doable in a reef tank. Would running a higher GPH help with this? anyone?

[sirreal63]

More turnover won't "polish" the water, but you can do that with mechanical filtration, or a good carbon and a small dose of ozone will also help.

[jedimasterben]

My display is 80g, my sump is about 18g total running volume, I've got around 300-350GPH from the return pump.

[FireFor3ffect]

100g display and I'm running about 350GPH through the sump. I'd say save the money, your circ pumps will be moving the water enough.

[ca1ore]

Even lower for me - 265 gallon display circulating approximately 800 gph through the sump. High in-tank flow though.

[Bpb]

3-5 x display volume is good. I am doing about 300 gph on my 90. It makes the most sense to try to match or slightly exceed the skimmer flow rate.

[sfsuphysics]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Even lower for me - 265 gallon display circulating approximately 800 gph through the sump. High in-tank flow though.

Same with me, 375g tank with a Speedwave DC10000, and I have it on 2 bars so I'm assuming that's 1/3 the total output, or it puts it about 880 gph (Man I love DC return pumps)

A lot of it is for sound reasons though, although I will admit I never had it cranked all the way up to see how wild and loud that would be

[DrBoxedWine]

Alright everyone. Sounds like the 600 GPH overflow is the way to go. My sump has a built in filter pad spot (going with a Fluid Designers sump/fuge) so sounds like that will help me get what I'm looking for. Thanks everyone for the help!

[miatawnt2b]

I use a MJ1200 as a return pump for my 60 cube so I'm probably under 2x turnover rate per hour through the sump. I find my skimmer is much more efficient this way, and I use two wp-25 stream pumps for flow in the tank.

[Wazzel]

I have about 6x my tank volume going through my sump per hour.

[DrBoxedWine]

So not to beat a dead horse here, but i just spoke with the manufacturer of the sump i'm going to buy, and he said 10x through the sump is ideal (he was saying more flow in the tank is better, but was saying you might as well have the option to move more through the sump, as you can scale things back, but not turn them up beyond their limit). I'll have 2 Hydor 750s inthe tank to start, and i plan to get a WP 40 in the near future, as well.

I could upgrade to the 1200 gph LifeReef Overflow, but it's an extra $80. If it's worth it, i'll go the extra money now, but you guys are saying that 400gph through a 30 gallon sump for a 75g tank is just fine? The sump will have a filter pad and my skimmer, as well as a refugium. Is there any benefit to running, say 750g (10x the tank volume) through the sump if i'm getting lots of tank flow from powerhead fans? $80 isn't a HUGE deal in this hobby, but it's enough that i'd love to save it if it won't actually have any benefit.

I'm also slightly nervous that if i got the 1200 gph overflow, and opted to run it at 400 gph, that the overflow is going to be noisy as hell. is this a legit concern?

[ken6217]

You don't need that kind of flow thought the sump that Lifereef is saying. The in tank flow is more important.

Btw their sumps are expensive for what they are.
Ken

[DrBoxedWine]

I'm actually getting a Fluid Designers sump, much more reasonably priced. They are the ones who told me that. The Lifereef ones are cool, but waaaay too pricey for a beginner such as myself in my opinion. I got a Lifereef overflow, however. I'm absolutely paranoid about floods (We have tenants in our basement, a flood would be disastrous), and the internet seems to feel that his are the most "flood proof."

Thanks for the input!

[ca1ore]

FWIW, the more flow through the sump, the larger the amount of water that the sump will have to hold in the event of pump failure. Simple physics! Ask the sump manufacturer why they recommend 10x, and then decide for yourself if the answer makes sense.

[AcroporAddict]

450 net gallon system volume. 465 gallon tank, 155 gallon sump. About 3-4x net volume through the sump per hour. About 50,000 gph in-tank flow.

[swk]

Fwiw - I have an identical setup except my sump is a 20 long. I'm running a mag 5, but it also feeds my fuge via a tee in my return plumbing. More than enough even splitting the load between the DT and fuge

[DrBoxedWine]

Great everyone, thanks so much. I'll keep the 600 overflow, sounds like it'll be just fine. Thanks again!!

[DavidinGA]

I'm at about 4x turn over per hour on my 210gal; seems perfect to me.

[slief]

My system is between 600-650 gallons and the display is 480G. I run a Reeflo Hammerhead Gold and with my head level and reactors, I am turning around 4000-4500 GPH. through my sump and fuge. My sump is about 40"x40" and 90 gallons my Fuge is about the same size as well so they are pretty large and can handle the volume well. I also have a second 30 gallon display fuge that gets a few hundred gallons an hour from the Hammerhead.