question on flow

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Marinegeek101

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

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?