Dont get mad

donkeykong

donkeykong

Member
I have a 80gl with I believe the same little gaint. It has to return lines dividing the 810gph from the pump. In the tank I have a rio200 and 50. I might add an extra one but with what I have right now it keeps everything moving pretty good but this is on a 80 and you have a 180 so you will need more. How much...there is no set amount, as long as the water is ciculating around the rock and you have no dead spotts it should be fine. More is required for certain corals but those are decisions you will have to make.
One question for you and everybody else, I got the little gaint used with the entire system. The engine is fairly quite but it sounds to me as if the impellor is rattling. Not extremely load but enough to wonder if it is normal, anybody out there with a little gaint can tell me how theres sounds
thanks
 
mr . salty

mr . salty

Active Member
I think I'll poke my head in here now...First off,it sounds like you got one hell of a deal on the tank,,But you are nowhere near done with the setup...The 800gph pump is about half of what you should have for filteration on a fish only tank that big..The general rule is 10 times the capasity per hour.So you really need more like 1800 gallons per hour flowing through that filter...Next,The UV should not be in this "high flow" loop.That is just way too much water flowing through it for it to kill anything..Check your models specs and see what the flow rate should be....Lastly(for now) there should be at least four powerheads in that tank.Maybe more.Place two in each rear corner.One at the bottom pointing towards the oppoaite front corner...Then put the other two up high pointing at the center of the front glass.These high ones should be aimed so they make a rippling affect on the surface.This ripple aids in airating the water,and keeps the dissolved organics(fish poop&pee)from forming an oily looking film on the waters surface...After you have these in place,watch as you feed the fish.See if any of the food settles in any one area.This will indicate a "dead spot" or no current at all...These dead spota are what you are trying to eliminate with the powerheads...Good luck,,and keep Posting.We are only trying to help.....
 
hnf2k

hnf2k

Active Member
i have a pump pumping water into the uv, and it is going at it's recommended rate. the uv is rated for 150 gallons of water...i was told by the lfs that this one would be fine because it is in the sump, so it's really only in like 30 gallons of water, and also because it's a double helix or whatever so it has twice the contact time of a normal uv light. the water that flows into the sump goes into the uv and gets spit out as well as the skimmer. you say i should buy a bigger uv and hang it on the top of the tank? mr. salty, please tell me anything else i am doing wrong so i can go back and buy all the necessary things to correct it at once so i can work out a package deal with them.
so i need to buy a bigger pump to move 1800 gph through the filter?!? or can the 800 through the filter suffice, and then have or 5 200 gph powerheads just flowing water through the tank?
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
harris,
look at my response what is going on with your return pump to the tank, so u have a u/v that picks up the water from the sump and then returns it to the sump with it's own little pump correct?
 
hnf2k

hnf2k

Active Member
yes, the uv has a powerhead pumping water into the uv from the sump. the water then goes back into the sump. same thing goes with the skimmer. and what post should i be looking at? my filter is set up so that there is only an opening for 1 pump.
 
hnf2k

hnf2k

Active Member
yes the pump is external(it is out of the sump if thats what you mean). there is only one opening(if that is a bulkhead), it's a little giant mdqsc(i think)
 
javatech

javatech

Member
so you have a uv that's will work on a tank up to 150 gal and you have a 180 gal tank and a 30 gal sump that's 60+ gal over what the uv is rated for what's the gph on the pump and the uv
 
hnf2k

hnf2k

Active Member
yes there is room for another pump. im guessing a 30 gallon sump...and also i have 200 lbs of live rock and 290 pounds of sand. so my tank isn't all water.
 
johnny.d.s

johnny.d.s

Member

Originally posted by MR . SALTY
I think I'll poke my head in here now...First off,it sounds like you got one hell of a deal on the tank,,But you are nowhere near done with the setup...The 800gph pump is about half of what you should have for filteration on a fish only tank that big..The general rule is 10 times the capasity per hour.So you really need more like 1800 gallons per hour flowing through that filter...Next,The UV should not be in this "high flow" loop.That is just way too much water flowing through it for it to kill anything..Check your models specs and see what the flow rate should be....Lastly(for now) there should be at least four powerheads in that tank.Maybe more.Place two in each rear corner.One at the bottom pointing towards the oppoaite front corner...Then put the other two up high pointing at the center of the front glass.These high ones should be aimed so they make a rippling affect on the surface.This ripple aids in airating the water,and keeps the dissolved organics(fish poop&pee)from forming an oily looking film on the waters surface...After you have these in place,watch as you feed the fish.See if any of the food settles in any one area.This will indicate a "dead spot" or no current at all...These dead spota are what you are trying to eliminate with the powerheads...Good luck,,and keep Posting.We are only trying to help.....
(((10 times the capasity per hour.So you really need more like 1800 gallons per hour
????? :rolleyes: you are nuts
6 or 7 times per hour is fine and you can count your powerheads gallons per hour too. Its the water thats moving and flowing in the tank that matters. Whats all that water moving in the sump going to do?(( four powerheads )) if you want a tornado in your tank!!! 2 big 300gph powerheads will do + the 800 coming from the sump. =1400gph ((180 times 7 = 1260gph))
((200 lbs of live rock and 290 pounds of sand))=130g maybe or less
 
johnny.d.s

johnny.d.s

Member

Originally posted by nolofinwe
i dont know johnny, cant have enough circulation. and chances are if captain salty said it, its probably considered cannon somewhere. ive got 900 gph in my 75, and ive still got stagnant areas. i guess it depends on how efficintly you're moving water.
HNF, rapids are fun, and stagnant water is just plain unhealthy.
but seriously, 10x the tank capacity is far from outrageous, especially on an optimum setup.
((200 lbs of live rock and 290 pounds of sand))=130g maybe or less
10 x 130g =1300gph
 
mr . salty

mr . salty

Active Member
"closed loop"is removing water from the tank,then pumping it back in through a spray bar or nozzels instead of just using powerheads...
 
wamp

wamp

Active Member
I had a 180.. I experienced the problems with flow in a large tank.
You need alot of flow in there, espically with 200 lbs of live rock. Flow around the rock is extremly important. In a 180 which is 6' long, the water needs to cross and circulate throughout the tank. 10x is what I started out with and was forced to go up. I ended up with an Iwaki pump and it did about 15x. I was much happier with that. The tank looked better and alos kept detrius from building up.
Power heads are great but they are spoty and do not add to the oxygenation of the water that happens when water is falling into the sump. Not to mention, after a time in the tank, the slow and need cleaning. I had 3 PH and the Iwaki pump for my flow.
Get a bigger pump, you won't be sorry.
 
hnf2k

hnf2k

Active Member
which model pump? and will i need to get a bigger bulkhead?
i have the little giant 4-mdqsc. im not handy, so am i going to hafta change all the hoses and bulkheads around?
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member

Originally posted by Johnny.D.S
(((10 times the capasity per hour.So you really need more like 1800 gallons per hour
????? :rolleyes: you are nuts
6 or 7 times per hour is fine and you can count your powerheads gallons per hour too. Its the water thats moving and flowing in the tank that matters. Whats all that water moving in the sump going to do?(( four powerheads )) if you want a tornado in your tank!!! 2 big 300gph powerheads will do + the 800 coming from the sump. =1400gph ((180 times 7 = 1260gph))
((200 lbs of live rock and 290 pounds of sand))=130g maybe or less
HEHEHEHE
all, I don't know about some of you guyys but we have a 75 with just over 1500 gph. No problems and as long a s teh heads are not blowing at the sand you do not even know it
10x is a long way from bieng nutz
 
almarktool

almarktool

Member
lot of good info here
wamp,
so at 15x /hr u were pumping 2700 GPH ? was this a reef ready tank? how did u get 2700gph out of a iwaki pump were u runinng 2 md 70's at 1500 GPH each? in which case if it was a reef ready tank the over flows did not have and trouble keepping up with this?
Mark
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
Something to consider when discussing turn over gph in most any tank.
Part of the puzzle is moving water over, past or through your biofiltration - be it live rock, DSB, canister, wet/dry or whatever.
This insures the nitrogen wastes are reaching the bacteria colonies. Typically 4-8 turns per hour is sufficient.
Next is internal water movement or circulation.
This is affected not only my the "amount" or gph of the system, but more so by the velocity or speed of the water as it moves within the tank.
You can easily pinch off or reduce down a spraybar fitting, and increase the speed of the water - how far it shoots out into the tank - without changing the return pump.
You can increase the size/flow of the return pump, and get similar results.
You can do both, and allow for multiple entry points or multiple return line/spraybar holes and get the best performance out of your dollar.
I can dump a ton of water into a tank with an oversized return line / spray fitting - but it does very little for actually "moving" the water.
I can decrease the size of the opening at point of entry, and have multiple points with the same return pump and get the water to move with some speed.
In my 75 gallon tank - I run an approximate max of 1300 gallons per hour - entering the tank from 5 entry points.
That's over 17 turns per hour - and no powerheads required.
Speed of water makes for good internal tankwater circulation - not just the amount in gallons per hour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top