noob chronicles.....planning

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by SaltyDog143

Hi everyone, thanks for the reply's and opinions

a trip to Edmonton on saturday and a visit to big Al's helped us empty some of the wallet and we brought home a new JNS skimmer, I have to say I liked the look of the skimmer in action, liked the adjustability of it, liked the footprint with the internal pump and the price was within budget....or maybe I am a sucker for a good sales pitch, either way we have our skimmer, picked up a powerhead, refractometer, and a couple buckets of salt.

Hooked up with a fellow member on here in Lloydminster and picked up his used gen2 radion xr30 at a pretty good deal, we will need a second for our 120gal, but lots of time for that later. After a discussion with him on powerheads I have looked into the Jebao rw series, and from what I see, I am impressed, think I may return my hydor and purchase one or two of these instead, anyone have any experience with them? I am thinking one rw-8 for the time being, should get enough flow in a 48"x24"x24" to get my rock started?

so we are one step closer to starting this little adventure, been fun and informative so far, next step, a proper pump.......gonna have a 5' lift from my sump to top of tank so gonna need something with some power I am thinking.

til next time
Randy

Your one power head is fine for movement while cycling for sure


Flow rate, turnover rate


Flow rate is the amount of flow in your display , it's not pinpoint but a general guideline as to what corals need for movement in the display.

Softies - 20x
Lps and mixed reef - 50x
Sps- 75 x

To figure the flow rate which is ,what corals need to aquaria nutrients and shake off particulate and detritus , take the total of your display and times it by the number above.

If your shooting for sps for example then go 120g x 75 = 9000gph

All the items that provide flow should add up to about this , power heads , return pumps , hang on back filters etc. all provide a little bit of flow. This is just a guideline not a pinpoint guarantee.


Turnover rate


This is the amount of water that flows through the sump and back to the display. Too much and water passes by filtration and doesn't get filtered enough , too little and not enough filtered way makes it to the display and you may also not keep temp up above.

Most people shoot for 6x , this would be done in total water volume so tank + sump and displace sand and rock, times this number by about 6 to get a starting turnover rate. If you have a 120g and a 50g sump that's 170 or about 140 after rock displacement x6 so a return of about 850g after head pressure is needed at the minimum. I always go larger as I add reactors to my return pump and keep a few spares in case I ever need them (manifold return line)

Don't use my numbers but calculate your own

[SaltyDog143]

Thanks reefwars, that's quite informative.....as a rule of thumb, some of the advice I have been given on pump size is consider 10x display tank, with consideration on pump lift, so if you check pump specs that will give me 1200 gph with a 5' pump lift I should be in the ball park, but again that is just someone's opinion, and as they say with opinions, they are like asses, everyone has one, lol

I think if i calculate as you suggest, with consideration of pump lift, I think I would still be close to the same numbers.

I like the idea of the dc pumps with controller, so I can fine tune the pump to ramp it up or slow it down, to me it seems like a good way to go.

thanks
Randy