Filtration Flow Rates?

[robo]

Hey Fellow Fish Friends, Sydney brings rain today so it's a day at home with the f/tanks...Little Ripper! I have a question for the Brains trust. I know that there is a required flow rate for good filtration i.e: the bactiria within a filter needs the right amount of oxygen to do it's job efficently, which is where the flow rate comes into play... SO..is there a link or some general info that might break this down for me...I do understand that that many things come into play .... I'd like to build a external sump type filter...and I'm a nosey bugger. Thanks

 

[Teelie]

The rule of thumb I go by is a minimum of 5 times the aquarium capacity. So a 10 gallon aquarium would need a filter running a minimum of 50 gallons an hour. I always overfiltrate and do more like 75 gallon an hour since most filters list "optimal" flow rate, not actual flow rate which tends to be smaller.

 

[Matty P]

Yeh that sounds like a could place to start, all of my tanks have at least 7x filter turnover...