How much flow (circulation)

[wright824]

I have a 45g high corner tank. i am running a aquaclear 50 with a filter pad, a aquaclear 20 (no power head) a whisper 3 filter and a coralife skimmer. now what is too much circulation? is this too much movement. I orginal just was using the aquaclear 50 but didn't think some areas in the tank were getting circulated well so i got the 20 and put it down low in the tank. now that i have a skimmer it just seems like a lot of movement. what do you think? I don't want the fish to stress out from too much circulation

 

[sign guy]

a good reef tank has 10 to 20 times the tank volume as flow, ie 45 x 10 = 450 gph or 45 x 20 = 900gph

 

[wright824]

Ok, i am new at this, can you explain what you mean?

 

[chadman]

you add up all the gph from everything(powerheads,filters,skimmers)then divide that by your total gallons in the tank...this is how you get your turnover rate

 

[chadman]

i have at least 25 turnover rate in both of my tanks

 

[chadman]

its a pain getting them set right so that your not totally blowing corals around but its great for making sure theres no dead spots

 

[wright824]

ok, i guess i have to now look up every thing and see what their gph is
thanks

 

[wright824]

ok so i have 270gph on the 50 power head 126 gph on the 20 power head 330 on the filter. ( this is a best guess. could not find specs on the exact filter but on one that whisper carries that is simular to mine) but couldn't find gph on the coralife 65 gal skimmer. so far i am at 726gph any one know the gph for the skimmer?