Excessive waterflow?

matttamar

matttamar

Member
I have a 75 gal. tank with two zoo med 280 power sweeps(210 gph ea.), and two Rio 600 powerheads. Is this excessive for my tank size? The Rio's where a new addition and when I put them in and turned them on it became obvious that there where places in the tank that werent getting any flow. Currently there is a purple Firefish in the tank and he does not seem to be stressed out from the flow. Eventually this will become a reef tank.
 
bangguy2

bangguy2

New Member
Wow matttamar i have seen your previous posts you really are a clueless bonehead, do us all a favor and turn your tank into a hamster cage.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
With a total of 820gph you have barely went over the minimum required flow so if anything you could add more flow. You will be fine for moderate to low flow corals. If you wanted sps corals or other high flow corals more would need to be added.
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
Originally Posted by ReefNut
With a total of 820gph you have barely went over the minimum required flow so if anything you could add more flow. You will be fine for moderate to low flow corals. If you wanted sps corals or other high flow corals more would need to be added.

I think he has two 600 GPH and two 210GPH. So, he has 1620GPH (I think)
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
The Rio 600 only puts out 200gph, so the total flow for the tank is about 800gph; or about 10x's turnover. This is by no means too much flow, and there are likely some spots in the tank not receiving any flow.
If you've ever snorkeled or dived on a reef, think about how much flow is there; that would be almost impossible to recreate in an aquarium.
As this tank progresses into a reef tank, I would suggest to slowly increase the flow. A lot of flow coupled with good water quality and strong lighting are in my opinion the three keys to success in this hobby. Lots of flow means less buildup of detritus on rocks (=less chance for hair algae to start growing), and a means for food to get to corals, and a means to whisk away any slime or other buildup from corals.
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
I agree with ReefNut, you're at the low end of the scale right now .... definitely not to much flow. :D
Originally Posted by ReefNut
With a total of 820gph you have barely went over the minimum required flow so if anything you could add more flow. You will be fine for moderate to low flow corals. If you wanted sps corals or other high flow corals more would need to be added.
 
matttamar

matttamar

Member
So when I start adding coral how many GPH of flow should I have? :notsure:And what powerhead should I get? I would prefer to use Rio.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
Originally Posted by MATTTAMAR
So when I start adding coral how many GPH of flow should I have? :notsure:And what powerhead should I get? I would prefer to use Rio.
10 to 20gph turnover rate. I would NOT use Rios. They may be cheap buy they are junk.
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
I use two Aquaclear 802 (450 GPH) an Emperor 400 (400GPH) and a Sea Clone 100 (100 GPH)
I turn over approximately 1400GPH but my flow is around 900GPH on a 55 gallon
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
Originally Posted by MATTTAMAR
What would you recomend and why?
Maxi Jets, because they are well built, last for a long time and have very little "restarting" problems. They are also widely used and have a great reputation for being a quality product.
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Agreed...I had a rio 800 and had restarting problems...I now use it for mixing replacement water.
Purchased a maxi-jet 900 for my tank...works awesome.
 
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