Forums

[Small Fry]

Hey the Dan, dunno if you have recieved this already, but welcome to the forums.
I will do my best to help you out with your questions, so we'll all get out safe and alive lol

If the main tank is suppose to be circulated 5x per hour, does that also mean that 5x of the display tank also needs to be circulated thru the refug/sump/skimmer?

-I think that 5X circulation would be really low? i;m not sure what your planning, but for a reef you'll want a little bit more. For example, on my 120 reef tank, i have a mag12 running the return from my sump/fuge, and then a dart (3600 gph) for strict circulation. So put everything to gether, with head loss, and thats like 4500 gph. Do the math and thats 37 and a half times its being circulated an hour. well, prolly not that much, as i have my return pump turned down a bit.But to answer your question, say the average is about 35 times an hour is good for being circulated, i would run aroudn 10 times through the sump, and everything else through powerheads or recirc pumps. Of course, i might be thinkin a bit too high, so other TR members will come in to correct me.

if that above statement is correct, then any overflow that is 600 gph or above should work fine?

For a 100 gallon tank, i would probably run around 800 gph thru the sump/fuge?? if you cant work that out, 600 will be adequate for said setup. IMHO, the higher you are planning the bio-load of the tank, the more often id want it through the sump/fuge. Anyway you plan it, with a 600 gph pump, the head loss will make it lower than labelled, so the 600 gph SHOULD handle it.

also, what diameter PVC is normally used to move 600+ gph?

Personally, i dont know. But run whatever diameter coming out of the overflow as the Bulkhead in it starts at. (if a 1/2" piupe comes out the overflow, run no smaller than a 1/2" pipe the rest of the way)
In the same way, if the pump output is 1 1/4", then run a pipe that is 1 1/4" to the tank.

HTH, feel free to ask any more questions if needed.