Powerhead overkill?

[markd50]

Hi everyone - first post on here - thanks for all of the great info.

I am about to build my first saltwater tank - 60G reef with bean animal overflow, sump etc. I am going to get the Eheim 1262 return pump (~900GPH without head offset correction, so obviously will gate valve that to get a lower return flow). I was going to also get two Hydor Koralia Evolution 1050/1150 powerheads but am starting to wonder if this is overkill? Should I get a lower flow return pump and stick with the two powerheads or keep the high flow return pump and drop a powerhead? Or go somewhere in the middle (moderate return flow with a single powerhead)?

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[edit] tank dimensions are 36"L x 18.5"W x 21"H [\edit]

[ShaneK]

My thoughts...
You say a sump? or a refug...?
If you run a sump you could sustain higher flow rates thru the sump.
If you run a refug you would want a lower flow rate so macro algae, live rock, copepods and your deep sand bed have more time to process the water. A refug is just a living filter so you don't want to flush your filter with to much flow or it just doesn't have time to process the water correctly.

I have a 95g display tank...plumbed to my basement where i have two additional refug's and a 180 frag tank. I run my water cycling very slow but my display tank up stairs has alot of movement by vertech pumps. I don't cycle thru the recommended 10/times per hour. But do way over 10/times per hour in water movement within the tank itself...
Hope that makes sense and helps. It works for me so it should work for you!

[markd50]

Sorry, should have given a little more info - I am going to combine a Bean Animal overflow down to my sump that will contain LR but which will also have a circulation loop running the sump water over an algal scrubber screen. So it's technically a refug? Basically I'm doing the version on the right hand side of this image: here

[SaltyDawg]

Not much help on this topic....but wanted to say welcome to the site guys. Mark, if you're gonna start a tank build, be sure to take lots of pics. You should start a tank build thread.

[CarmieJo]

I think it is hard to have too much flow IN the tank but you can have too much through the sump. So, the Koralias will be great. What is your return pump going to push at head? Will you run a separate circulation pump for the algae scrubber or use the excess flow from the Eheim?

[markd50]

Thanks SaltyDawg and CarmieJo. Sorry for the delayed response - I've been busy building an aquarium

Carmie - my return pump is only pushing ~275gph at head, so not much at all, but the koralia is really helping out on the in tank flow issue.

I took a little bit of a chance on the design of the algae scrubber - primarily because I didn't want to pay for a second pump - and just sent the main siphon water from my overflow in the DT to a slotted pipe with a mesh screen in it - no problems yet and the flow over the screen seems to be working out well. Will now go and make a build thread as Salty suggested - I took lots of pictures and one of you might just notice something that is asking for disaster