Sump Flow Rate?
 

I have read every post I could find on this subject and still could not find the answers I need. Tank 125 gallon, sump 50 gallon. The sump is designed after one I saw on Melev's reef site.
http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/f/sump_f.html
It has a 16 gallon refugium at one end, a skimmer resevoir at the other and a 25 gallon center section where the water is pumped back to the tank. The refugium and center section will have live rock and sand. The tank drains into each end (refugium and skimmer resevoir) of the sump and moves toward the center. The million dollar question is how many gallons per hour should be coming out of each drain? Should the flow through the refugium be releative to its size? ie 10 times its volume (4x16=64 gph). Should the skimmer end only provide the amount of water the skimmer can process?

Thanks

i wouldn't try to get more than 1000gph outta it..looks like a mag 9.5 in the sump on his page.

Too many people try to get all their tank turnover rate through their sump. I would definately shoot for the amount that Invigor has stated. Also, there have been discussions that a slower flow in the area the skimmer draws from is better, similar to what you said. I have a tank the samp size as you, only with a smaller sump and I only put about 600gph through it, I make up the rest with my closed loop.

I know its on Melev's site somewhere that the reccomended flow through the sump should be 3 - 4 times the tank volume. If you try to have too much flow through the sump, you can end up with too many bubbles being delivered back to the tank since they don't have adequate time to seperate out of the water. For your 125 tank that would be between 375 - 450 gph. A mag 9.5 would make a good choice of return pump given that it will have some volume loss to head pressure. You can controll the output by having a tee with a ball valve to divert some of the flow back into the sump or into the fuge. You will need to size your overflows to achieve this flow rate as well.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=462212
takew a look here