Flow Question

[nbm142ta]

Just set up an new 125 aquarium, been out of the hobby for a few years and decided to get back into it. Previously i had a 55 closed circut that had plenty of flow. i now have a 125 closed circut with a rio 3100 and a 3.5 foot head height. Tank will be a fowlr. Looking into Hydor Koralia Water Circulation Pumps, but dont know how may or how much flow i will need. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Ace25]

Just trying to understand your setup. When you say "Closed Circuit" do you mean closed loop or do you have a standard overflow/sump/return setup? The Rio 3100 is a 900GPH pump, which would be a good rating for a return pump from a sump on a tank your size. I guess it is possible to tie in the 2 overflow boxes just into a closed loop setup. Never seen it done before though.

So for flow for the 125, which I am guessing is a 6' tank from the picture, I would pick at least 2 Koralia 4's if not 5's. One on each end of the tank. If you had a $1000 to spend just on flow a pair of Vortech MP40w's would be perfect.

 

[nbm142ta]

Thanks or the correction it is a standard overflow/sump/return setup. Thanks for the info ill look into the 4/5's as for thr mp40's those look very enticing buy i can think of a few other ways to spend 1k!

 

[Cerianthus]

One thing I noticed is that return spout (that is if what I am seeing is such) should be close to top.
The way you have set up facing towards bottom and about 1/3 way down is somewhat dangerous in case of power failure unless your sump can handle that much volume or have check valves on return lines.

The size of return pump should depends on amt of water draining from built-in overflow (ReefReady). If memory serves, the ususal 1" drain hose could handle about 600GPH thus 2 x 600=1200GPH. Thus you can probably use pump which can pump slightly higher than 1200GPH or use a pump which will do more than that such as Iwaki which can pump 1500GPH and use about 300 GPH for other equipments such as reactor and/or uv strilizer, etc, etc.
What ever pump you use, review the specs of pump for TDH rating/graph to determine the true amt being pumped according to height it is pumping (approx 50" to top of tank?) and possibly distance of piping.

From my experiences, all the check valves, be it ball type or swing or even spring loaded, will eventually develop/grow some matters on it with time which can prevent them from being 100% thus I would take that into consideration when positioning return spout.

Hope this helped a bit.

 

[Brian Bivens]

One other option, which is free, is just drilling a tiny 1/8 hole in the top of the return line, right where it first comes into your tank. It will let a little water out, but once it is above water it would break the siphon and stop your sump from overflowing.

more effective than a ball valve, and ten bucks cheaper, just check it periodically to make sure nothing has clogged it up.

 

[davocean]

I agree that return locklines should be kept high up in event of PF, and sump should only be about 3/4 full to handle what will siphon before it breaks.
I also agree that check valves and siphon break holes eventually clog and fail.
Your return pump should be about 3-5x turnover after head loss, and rest of flow should come from loop or PH, and I'd go w/ 30x turnover min, and would prefer 40x, even higher for heavy sps.
I'm not a big fan of Rio's, they have fried so many tanks.
Vorts are awesome, but expensive.
Koralias are good too, but my pref is Tunze 6025's w/ an easy flow mod that gives about 1,100+ GPH on 7 watts.
Always keep in mind watts = heat, you'll need to keep that down in summer.

 

[nbm142ta]

Thanks for a ll the info. As for the locklines i do have a siphon break at the start of the output. also as for the sump i built an acrylic sump broken into 3 sections that measures 48x17x20. so its roughly about 70 gal? so i ve got plenty of room for the flow back. Ill look into the Tunze 6025's.