Do I have enough water flow?

[acrid]

Hey,
I am wondering if I have enough water flow in my tank. I believe I do, but thought I'd check.
It is a 65 gallon tank with an overflow, and a 15 gallon sump. The return pump from the sump is a ViaAqua 3300 (1,000gph). I have 2 main powerheads, a Koralia 2 (600gph) & a Koralia 3 (850gph). I also have a tiny ViaAqua VA80 powerhead (79gph) in an area that collected a lot of debris.
So doesn't that give me a total of 2,529gph? Is that enough? Is it TOO much? Because we seem to have some micro-bubbles, and I was just wondering if it was possibly because the return pump is too powerful.
Thanks for your help.

 

[scopus tang]

Acrid, I have about the same pumps and powerheads as you in my 65 I think that you should be fine with flow. I was getting microbubbles for awhile, but they were being created by the protein skimmer in the sump. Hows the 15gal sump work for you? I had a 20 and had to upgrade, cause I couldn't keep enough water in the thing due to evaporation. Water level kept dropping and exposing powerhead for skimmer and return pump. Major microbubbles!

 

[fishfreak1242]

Originally Posted by Acrid
http:///forum/post/2586726
Hey,
I am wondering if I have enough water flow in my tank. I believe I do, but thought I'd check.
It is a 65 gallon tank with an overflow, and a 15 gallon sump. The return pump from the sump is a ViaAqua 3300 (1,000gph). I have 2 main powerheads, a Koralia 2 (600gph) & a Koralia 3 (850gph). I also have a tiny ViaAqua VA80 powerhead (79gph) in an area that collected a lot of debris.
So doesn't that give me a total of 2,529gph? Is that enough? Is it TOO much? Because we seem to have some micro-bubbles, and I was just wondering if it was possibly because the return pump is too powerful.
Thanks for your help.
You have PLENTY of flow. As long as there isnt a whirlpool inside your tank and your fish seem fine with it, you arent over doing it. Microbubbles wouldnt have anything to do with have too much flow. If your powerheads are close to the top of the tank and sucking up air then that would cause for the bubbles. Also if the water level is low in the return section of your sump and your pump is sucking in air then that would also account for it. Do you have a bubble trap in your sump? That would help ALOT with the bubbles.

 

[acrid]

Thanks for the quick replies!
We do have a bubble trap after the input section, but not before the return section. We ran out of room. We will be adding a partial baffle in the middle to break up the water flow through the refugium a little more.
Evaporation is also a bit of a problem right now, a little bit & then the skimmer doesn't work properly. An auto-topoff system is in the works, so hopefully that will help with both the skimmer & evaporation issues. Although, really, I don't mind topping it off daily, but the skimmer thing is a problem...
The 15 gallon is fine for now. Even better if we get the auto-topoff working. It'd be much nicer to have more room though. Oh well.
Thanks again. I just read that cyano & such can be caused by low-flow. So I wanted to avoid that particular disaster.