Here"s What I've Learned So Far!

[Murphy]

100 gallon reef tank!

Salt water: Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals (appear to be most popular)

Substrate: Sugar grain size argonite approx 4" deep

Live Rock: 1 to 1.5lbs per gallon

Circulation: At least 10x the tank volume

Sump: Plain sump with skimmer, heater etc.

Lighting: 3 to 5 watts per gallon ,power compact florescent or VHO.

Bulb Type: ???? Suggesstions?

How am I doing so far?

What is the best way to put the live rock in?. Should I put it in first on the glass bottom, then the sand. Or should I put the sand in, then the live rock.

 

[vermonter310]

Hey, Thats about what I've come up with myself, although I'm looking to do a FOLR, and much smaller 30 gallon. I have a question you or someone else may be able to answer. I see you have posted "circulation at least 1 the tank volume" question is, is this per hr? and how can this be determined?
I'm trying to learn as much as I can before submitting my post with a thousand newbie questions but I havn't seen much written about this and am curious.

Thanks
Mike

 

[fishfreek]

HEHE I love that little green alien. 90% of the time when someone types 1 flow rate that little bugger of an alien pops up. hehe

Yes that is per hour. For example on a 100 gal tank the min flow for a reef tank should be 1000 gal per hour flow rate. This is an approx figure so it needs not be an exact amount.

The truth is in a natural reef the flow rate is very high. It would be next to impossible to have to much flow in your tank.

Some corals need/like higher flows than other corals. Some corals wont open up at all under high current yet others will die unless they have good water flow.

I have an 80 gal tank and I am running around 1200GPH flow rate.

You can measure flow by timing how long your overflow lines takes to fill up a known volume. So say it takes 15 sec to fill a 5 gal bucket up to the approx 5 gal mark. Since there are 4 sets of 15sec in a min if you multiply 5 * 4 you get 20 gal per min flow rate. Since there are 60 min in an hour you take your 20 gal flow per min and * 60 to get the flow per hour.

Most pumps will have a rated capacity of flow at a specific head height. For example a pump might be rated at 500GPH at 0' head. This means that as long as the pump does not have to push the water UP (against gravity) it will output approx 500 GPH. But this same pump might be rated at 300GPH at 3' head. This means that it looses 200GPH flow rate due to having to push the water 3' above the pump. The higher the head the lower the flow as compared to the flow at 0' head.

Many pumps will have a flow to head chart.