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View Full Version : Water Pump / Bulk head / Flow rate


speckledmind
02/23/2007, 08:15 PM
Hi everyone :wavehand:

This is my first post, You ! Hoo !
and my first reef tank, read my signature : )
So yes, I am as green as can be.

I have been reading everything I can about saltwater for the last several months, but some questions remain unanswered, local forums ( Quebec :frog: Canada ) have varied opinions to say the least, and LFS want to sell me the kitchen sink, so I came to Reef Central for the bottom line answers. :thumbsup:

Since I have a ton of question, I will start off and see where it takes me.
I did read the other posts and threads in the " New to the hobby ", just haven't fond the answers that apply to my set up, so here goes.

I need to get the right parts ( pump ) and calculate the flow rate needed in the tank.

a ) For the water Pump, how many times per hour does a tank / Sump need to turn over ?

b ) How do I calculate the additional flow rate in the tank once I add this pump ?
I have 4 Maxi-Jet 1200 ready to be moded.

b ) What size of Bulkhead should I get / drilled for the Intake / Outake ?
Is this a question of choice, or is there guidelines to follow.

c ) How far from the top and each side do I get my tank drilled for the Intake / Outake ?
I like the water line not to show from outside the tank if it matters.

Tank you in advance for your replies.

Cheers,
Denis

PS : My tank is a 65 Gal. ( 36" l x 18" d x 24" h ) and sump 40 Gal. ( 36" l x 18" d x 15" h ), this is a long term project, as saltwater takes time and I'm in no rush to fall flat on my face.

kau_cinta_ku
02/23/2007, 09:25 PM
[welcome]

a. 10 times through the sump is good. 3-5 through the fuge is what lot of ppl go for.

b. depending on what you plan on keeping. i would go for 20x for softies and most lps, 30x and more for lps and sps.

c. i would say a 1" drain would be good for that sie tank.

d. someone else will have to chime in here as i drilled my tank on the bottom and added an internal overflow box.

great to hear that you are taking your time doing the research, sounds as if you will do very well in this hobby.

Icefire
02/23/2007, 09:55 PM
Salut

I have a 50G with 33G sump/refugium with a Hagen AC 802 (400Gph @ 0') and 1" drain.

You will need an overflow box, I made a small one 4x5x5" instead of a all the height of the tank.

the drain should be at least 2in bellow water line, mine is too high.

I can post some pic if you wish.

Forget about modding the maxijet, 30x65G=1950gph, one moded will be at 1500gph, a bit High...

I would mod one and use a normal one but personnaly I would use 2xSeio instead of 4xMJ.

jer77
02/23/2007, 10:40 PM
I believe knowing the type of skimmer helps in deciding what flow rate should go through the sump. I'd say that the flow rate in the sump should match the flow rate of your skimmer's pump. This will allow all of the water from the overflow to be processed by the skimmer. Allowing the water time to process through the skimmer will increase your skimmer's performance and in turn increase water quality. Remember all of your flow isn't supplied by just your return pump. Depending on the livestock in your tank I'd say shoot for 10-30X your tank size in gph.
To figure out your flow rate with head loss just use the calculators on Reef Central's homepage. This will tell you how much flow the overflow will need to handle. Once you get the flow use the other calculator for overflow size to figure out the drain pipe size.

speckledmind
02/24/2007, 06:19 AM
Here you go jer77,

Since I don't want to highjack my own thread, here are my questions on Skimmers : http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1054942