Flow/Circulation for reef

[markus0909]

Flow circulation question

[hr]
I have a 120 gal with 40 gal ref/sump. I have a mag 7 for return and a 2x 1" overflow box. I also have 4 internal pwr. heads. 2 korola's and 2 stronger 400+ pwr heads. It's not enough flow/circulation, thats for sure. Not even close. I'm thinking of geeting the Iwaki MD 40RLXT, which pumps about 1100 gph.
My question is.
1)Should I use the Iwaki pump seperatly from the return? If so, HOW?
2)Or, should I use this pump as my return?
3)If I do use as return, is the overflow I have sufficient?
Thanks for any input......

 

[i<3reefs]

Good questions, and I've been pondering the same thing for my 120g I'm setting up. Your flow will partially be determined by what you intend to put in it. SPS like some serious flow, and others can get by with less. You also want to be able to eliminate any dead spots. Straight sumps work better on a faster flow, and refugiums work better on a slower flow.
I believe I'm going to put Koralia 4s on my front corners pointing across my reefs, and Koralia 2s on my back walls pointing towards my corners. I'm intending to keep SPS corals in this tank. My sump/refugium pump will run around 600gph. I intend to split my intake pipe to my skimmer, and refugium side, which should make my refugium side receive water at around 300gph.
As for your overflow box, I'm guessing a 2x1" box, is going to move water around 1000gph. If your using an 1100gph pump, you'll want to add a ball valve in case you don't lose enough pressure to be under 1000gph.

 

[markus0909]

I do have a couple of SPS, and intend on keeping more. So you think the way to go would be to seperate the "upgrade" pump (Iwaki) to the DT only and leave the 700 gph mag7 as the return through the Ref.?

 

[i<3reefs]

Well that could really work well depending on how many gph can move through your overflow. Unless your putting your Iwaki on some sort of separate closed loop system.

 

[b00st3d]

For the ~$300 you'd spend on that pump new, I think you could see better results with 2 koralia magnum 6s and have your self 4400gph of flow.