Water Flow

[shutdown]

what is the suggested rate of water movement in a marine tank?

I've moved onto an exteranl filter system in my 120 litre tank and noticed the water movement is a lot less powerful.

it turns over at least 150 litrs an hour but the actual movement of water is lower...does that make sense?

my old internal filter unit used to make to water move a lot faster around the tank.

just wondering if i should add a second powerhead to move water around as well.

thanks in advance.

 

[Matthew5664]

I have a 120l tank as well and I have

1x 1600 return pump (l/hr)
1x 1000 Power head (l/hr)
1x 1500 Power head (l/hr)

Witch give me 4100 l/hr

= 34 times per hour turn over.

I would say a starting point is 10 - 20 time per hour turn over with an uper limit being 50+

 

[crazyelece]

I have a 120 and my flow is 500gph sump return, 600gph closed loop, two 1100 sieo powerheads, two 820 sieo powerheads, and a floval 304

summing to around 5000gph so about 42x turnover. I can really tell the difference with the new sieos and I recommend the most turnover without the tank looking crappy from too many powerheads and the sand blowing about everywhere.

 

[shutdown]

thank you,

i shall look at getting a new powerhead i think and see if it helps

 

[Aquascaper]

Aiming for x40 turnover should be about right but choose the right types of powerheads as a lot of flow concentrated in one area is not a good thing. Powerheads such as Seios and Tunze provide maximum turnover with minimal 'jetting'.

 

[shutdown]

ok been looking for the right powerhead.

is 2400lph too strong turnover? it sounds a bit too powerful...obviosly could be wrong but don't want my fish being too battered from water flow lol

 

[john27]

Hi,
I have a 250L tank for turnover i have,
12,000lph stream, 3x3000lph pumps, 4000lph Seio, and a ehiem 1262 . I wouldnt worry about a 2400lph pump in you tank.

john.

 

[Aquascaper]

Correct me if i'm wrong but I think there's a touch more than 2400lph on a natural reef

It is impossible to create the natural flow found on reefs and, for the average aquarist, it's impossible to even get close to the turnover a reef gets. As long as your tank has sheltered spots all the fish will be fine, the only thing that will be affected by the flow will be corals as most people keep different types of corals that wouldn't occur side by side in nature and therefore require different conditions.

As long as you can create different areas with differing flow rates you can never have enough IMO.

 

[shutdown]

As long as you can create different areas with differing flow rates you can never have enough IMO.

so the more flows the merrier?


think i understand now so i will have a look for a couple of well placed powerheads in my system and see if i can fit them in