Powerhead Required?

[Petey]

I have a 40g tank, running with a 200gph Eheim Canister filter and a skimmer that I'd say cycles 40-50gph. Should I add a powerhead to get increased circulation or does what I have sound sufficient? What is the typical target range for circulation gph?

 

[BillyZ]

I would add at least 1 200GPH PH. Have it interact with the flow from your canister. If it were me, i would find 2 small PH,s 100-150GPH and add them to interact with each other.

 

[grimlock3000]

I would, what you have right now is not really enough IMO. I lot of people run marine tanks with a 20x or so water turnover rate to reduce dead spots and keep water moving through the rock. You have a 6X turnover rate, very low for a marine tank.

15X is a good target and you can adjust it from there. More imporant than the total flow will be position powerheads and water outlets to eliminate any possible dead spots.

 

[RMPD109]

It depends on what type tank you want. FO or reef. I was always told about 10x per/hr for FO and reef up to 20x. Some will recommend even more.

 

[malkore]

all good comments...yes definitely need another 200gph...I'd probably go with a maxijet 1200, which I think is 295gph. 10 x per hour is the minimum. i'm skating somewhere around 14.5x per hour.

You can't really count the skimmer flow.