water circulation

[thepirate]

i am setting up a 130 gal tank with a 30 gal sump.

the sump will have three sections, mechanical/bio filter / refuge / return.

i already have an aquaclear 5000 powerhead pump which in theory is 3800ltrs/hour, howeer in practice it moves 1500ltrs/hour.

the lfs have recomended that i use a aquamedic oceanrunner 3500.

should i stick with the aquaclear 5000? is that enough turnover through the sump/filter system.

i will have additional powerheads to circulate the water within the tank.

any advise would be appreciated. i'm not sure if the lfs are giving me poor advise just to make money.

mark

 

[seaham358]

what kind of over flows do u have, is the tank drilled and how many

 

[thepirate]

the tank is drilled 1 1/4" with one weir.

obviously i don't want to pump in more than the wier can handle, is there anyway that i can calculate the maximum outflow from the weir with 1 1/4" outlet.

cheers

Mark

 

[Thumper]

For and empty tank it will be fine but when you add rock etc. to disrupt the flow you will find you have dead spots, I recently with through this and as bad as I hated to I had to add power heads in the main. You also dont want to move the water to fast through the refugium or it will not benifit you near as much. I would go with the smaller of the two and use the rest of the money for a couple good ph's.

 

[thepirate]

i already have a couple of powerheads ready to add to the tank, i am aware that i need to turnover the tank volume quite a lot.

my main concern is that i am putting enough water through the sump/ filtration system.

aditional to this, should i include a mecahnical section to my sump? ie sponge/floss/ carbon?

cheers for the help

Mark