Flow Questions

[jtwilson]

Going to set up a 125 gal soon. I was just wondering on what my gph should be, and what type of flow is considered the best type (if there is one) either an external pump, powerheads, wavemakers ........ whatever. Thanks

 

[fishgeek01]

depends on what you are setting up to do, what do you want your tank to be when it grows up?

 

[nereef]

Flow should be higher for a reef than for a fish only, unless the FO will be an aggressive tank.
Will you be utilizing a sump/fuge? Your best bet, IMO, is to use a sump/fuge, a good skimmer, and some good flow. GPH as a rule of thumb isn't the best way to measure tank flow. it's kind of like watts per gallon. what's important is to have a good current with no dead spots. i would think that you could get the job done with the return from the sump and 4-5 powerheads.

 

[jtwilson]

well this is the reeftank forum right? Yeah im going to be setting up a 125 gal reeftank with a 55gal sump/fuge. I know that a return with 5 or 6 powerheads will get the job done but thats not really what i asked. Based on some experienced reefkeepers past experiences, what would be the best way to set up flow in a 125?

 

[777]

jt,
I set up a 215 and did not want powerheads in the tank. I went with one large pump as a closed loop to max gph and that did the trick for me.
I have a picture of how i did mine.

 

[dogstar]

As said, the AMOUNT of flow depends on the types of livestock you are wanting to Keep. Many coral species need strong flow and many others can not tolerate strong flow. Same with some fish species.....Typical ranges for theses different system are from 10x to 30x turn over rates. Some have a little more and some less.
HOW you acheive the flow can be mainly from return pumps from a sump and if needing more because the drains or sump itself is too small then you can add powerheads inside the tank or do external cloosed loops to get the amounts your livestock needs.