question on flow
 

Hey guys,
I have a 72 gallon Oceanic bow front tank /w 30gallon sump (900gph return pump) and I have 2 sicce voyager 3 powerheads rated 1200gph. I am looking into having a mixed reef mostly lps+sps. I was wondering if I need more flow? If so, should I get a voyageur 3 (1200gph) or voyager 4 (1600gph)?

Thanks,
Lyndon and Derrick

I am running two koralia evolution 1050's (1050gph each) with a 800gph return on my 75g tank (around 2500 gph with 33x turnover) and there is almost to much flow for my lps... Have to hide them against rocks so they dont tear at times. With your setup you will be pushing around 3000gph with head loss (41x turnover). Should be plenty of flow imo. I am not a veteran though.

It's kind of difficult to just name a figure. So much depends on how the flow is set up. You can have random flow, lateral flow, surge, etc. You also will want some surface agitation as well, for oxygenation and shimmer. A pretty good rule of thumb for a rough guideline: 40x or more turnover for SPS and less of course for most LPS. Hope this helps. Also the 900 GPH return pump: is that the pump rating before or after head loss?