Flow recommendations for 135 mixed reef? what pumps?!

[Mbeef61]

im currently upgrading my 135 gallon system that was mainly [acronym:5209780dca="Fish only with live rock"]FOWLR[/acronym:5209780dca] and a few mushrooms and softies to a full mixed reef...luckily with a 135 i have some depth on my side so i can add my lower light things to the bottom. i want to add mostly [acronym:5209780dca="Small Polyped Stoney"]SPS[/acronym:5209780dca] since i have my lights on order from hellolights.com (3x250 ARO Pro with 15k) i also have 4x96 [acronym:5209780dca="Power compact fluorescent"]PC[/acronym:5209780dca] for actinics. my question now begins by asking what kind of flow should i have for this setup? i currently have starpolyps...[acronym:5209780dca="Mushroom coral"]shrooms[/acronym:5209780dca]....pagoda coral....hammer....plates etc...i would like to start adding some acros and montis...what kind of pumps can i add...i would like to keep it to two in the corners..(tank 72" long) right now im looking at seio and tunze....and both seem vastly different (features design and price) is there anything in between...what would you recommend for both brands...like if i had to get seio which ones should i get? if i can afford tunze which ones should i get? is there anything in between? let me know what you think

[Mbeef61]

wow this is one i actually thought i could get some input/opinions on it seems to be a big debate

[tecwzrd]

The SEIO Super Flow Pumps look like the best bang for the buck The minimum is 620 [acronym:b1084a9a03="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b1084a9a03] so one on each side should be plenty of water movement along with the 350 [acronym:b1084a9a03="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b1084a9a03] your Rena Filstar XP3 Can filter & whatever your sump/refugium pump puts out.

I know a lot of people use Maxi-Jet 1200 [acronym:b1084a9a03="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:b1084a9a03] but they only put out 295 [acronym:b1084a9a03="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b1084a9a03].

The lowest price I could find for SEIO pumps was at drsfostersmith

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...id=12074&OVMKT

[Phyl]

If you could swing it I would go with a pair of Tunzes on a multi-controller. By far the most flow for the buck. You're going to want 10-20x turnover in the tank for the [acronym:3ca96ed8c0="Small Polyped Stoney"]SPS[/acronym:3ca96ed8c0] (closer to 10 to suppot some of the longer [acronym:3ca96ed8c0="Large polyped Scleractinian (stoney) coral"]LPS[/acronym:3ca96ed8c0] like torches, hammers & froggies).

If you really had too much money on your hands you could go for a Tunze wave maker. Those things are supposed to be beyond cool!

[tecwzrd]

Originally Posted by Phyl

If you could swing it I would go with a pair of Tunzes on a multi-controller. By far the most flow for the buck.

At $137+ per [acronym:b3421509fc="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:b3421509fc] for the low end Tunzes (1600 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc]) I still think the $69 spent on SEIO M1500 which does 1500 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc] is still a better deal if he needs that kind of flow. That is unless of course he feels that he needs more than 1500 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc].

Originally Posted by Phyl

(closer to 10 to suppot some of the longer [acronym:b3421509fc="Large polyped Scleractinian (stoney) coral"]LPS[/acronym:b3421509fc] like torches, hammers & froggies).

Wouldn’t a pair of Tunzes be overkill for a 135 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:b3421509fc]? The lowest flow one is the Turbelle® stream 6060 which puts out 1600 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc].
http://www.saltycritter.com/pumps/tu...lle_stream.htm

With two of them and the canister putting out 350 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc] you're looking at a total of 3550 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc] or 26+ turnover on the 135 [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:b3421509fc] tank. And that’s not including the pump for the sump which I assume also does 300+ [acronym:b3421509fc="Gallons per hour"]gph[/acronym:b3421509fc] I realize we are talking about lager heads/gentle flow and not the hard stream that the Maxi Jets put out but I wonder if the higher flow rate is necessary.