40 times volume flow?
 

Exactly how am I supposed to maintain 40 times the volume of my tank in flow (55G so 2200GPH) when all these corals I see say "mild to moderate flow" and I get fish doing somersaults ???

How badly off would I be with 10 times the volume of flow, using two 240GPH pumps?

My eventual stocking plan is:

Six line wrasse 1
Barnacle blenny 1
Clownfish 1
Azure Damselfish 5
Firefish 3
Clown green goby 1
Blue green chromis 6
Feather duster 2
Shrimp/goby pair 1
Peppermint shrimp 1
Cleaner shrimp 2
Conch 2
Nassarius 3
Bumblebees 5
Hermits blue/red 15

Torch coral
Bubble coral
Hammer coral
Frogspawn coral
Crystal Galaxy coral
Ricordia coral
Zoanthids
Acans
Riterri or Bubbletip Anemone

Charles

Curious, where did you get that number 40 from?

Y do you want 4x flow.

18 fish in a 55. Wow

Fire fish are jumpers. Just so you know.

19. You forgot the "shrimp/goby"

That's a lot of flow for the corals on your list. 20x would be better IMO. It doesn't have to be continuous direct flow either, alternating and faster/slower speed rates are more natural. Getting the flow to cover all the nooks and crannies of the tank is more important than actual flow rates. It helps keep algae and cyno at bay and is good for nutrient export to feed the corals and keep things in suspension for waste removal.

Besides it being mentioned that's too many fish for your tank :surprise:

6.1x your total system volume is enough for flow through your sump for most skimmers to work correctly

The 35-40x flow is total/combined flow in your tank for the highest flow requirements of some SPS. This includes your return pump ( 6.1x sump flow ) + your intank stuff ( powerheads/closed loops/wave boxes )

You don't need such a high flow rate if you're not keeping only the most finicky SPS, and such a flow will probably destroy lots of LPS

Depending on what you plan on keeping, you can get away with much lower flow rates such as 20-25x total turnover

So, for your 55g tank as an example with a 15g sump ( total probably close to 60g ), your return pump would work well with 350-400gph
Your total system volume in my model is 60g, so 25x is 1500gph-400=1100
Divide that by 2 and you only need 2 powerheads of 5-600gph each

Of course, this is just a gestimate, and having multiple powerheads in a system is better than 2, in most cases ...

It appears to be the consensus view on most of the large reef forums. To be exact it is from 30 to 40 times.

Charles

I don't 'want' 40x flow, I want to make sure I can use 10x but it seems that it too low according to most web sites.

18 fish that are going to stay at 1" in length and get sold/traded when they get bigger. ;)

Charles

But that's only for the most heavily populated SPS dominant tanks
The last time I tried to turn my mp10s up over 75% in my 75g tank, my SPS started growing sideways away from the pumps :surprise:

It's your decision. But IMO. 5 damsels are going to create a fair amount of aggression. I had two in a 180 and they were not a friendly fish. Also hate to see a ha breakout from such a high bio load.

But back on topic.

Looking at it now you might be right on that. I think I will not order the damsels, even thought they are listed as peaceful. Got a sea hare in there for the hair algae.

Charles

Not to put a damper on your wish list, but don't count on your sea hare to keep HA under control
Better off not overstocking to begin with :lol:

I'm trying my best to stick with the rule of 4" of fish per 10g of habitable water, but it's hard to do in a 75g, especially when most of the fish I want are 4+ inches each

WTH guys, 40x flow is like the MINIMUM.

I have like 90x flow and I just keep zoas and LPS -____-

Anyway, just don't be a dummy and put animals in front of the muzzle of your powerhead. Problem solved.

I think 'muzzle' is the keyword here :mrgreen:

And Albert, we're talkin' reef tanks here, not your lap pool :razz:

lolwut? Should I go retrieve my rapier?

Err, hwhaaatt ??
Keep your glove on Albert, just poking fun at your flow references :smile:
I thought it quite amusing, but may have lead the layman astray, err what hrmm hmm hmm

I'm with Albert on this one.
40 is a min flow, I would go more but what's more important is how you active that flow.
You only need about 10 x through the sump if you have a sump that can't handle the high flows. There was a huge three on this a couple years ago. Do a search and you''ll find lots of info.

Steve

Is it Divine?

Currently using an outboard boat motor with a 55g surge system on my 40g.












Otherly known as an MP10.

wow thats some mp10 , mine hits 100% from time to time in a 25 g , with a koralia 1050 in there.....

base flow on your own tank and livestock , start average and add as necessary as your system comes together;)

thats what that smell of gas was.....your outoard motor lol

just did the math mines 172...........lol

Wow. Mines 72

I'm sitting right at 50 now after my pump swap.... I think I need more now:cry:

Guess I stuck my foot in my mouth
I did some math today and I'm sitting at over 40x
If I turned up my mp10s I'd be over 50x, but too noisy for me

egads, this made me do the math. At full power on all my vortechs I'm at just under 90X.

No wonder all the new growth on one of my stag corals took a hard left turn. If I were to keep rotating the colony I could probably get a corkscrew acropora!

Never did the math on my new system, 38X.

Good thread :)

Now I am totally confused! Even the smaller pump of the two types that I have, the old Koralia 3 whips the fish and coral heads around in my cube. I am wondering about going to the newer Koralia, either dual Evolution Nano 425gph or Evolution 550 ... and setting them up on alternating timers to get opposite flow ... sadly an MP10 is not in the budget :(

:cry:

Charles