watts per gallon and flow rate

[thefishguy]

I am trying to match the flow rate of my tank to exactly 20 times per hour. I have a 70 gallon a and a 29 gallon sump is it 20 times 99 gallons or is 20 times 70 gallons. And for lighting do I want 7-10 watts per gallons in the tank at a time or total system capacity.
TIA[/quote]

 

[fishfreek]

Well if you want 20 X the flow rate of your tank its 720 but if you want 2 the flow rate of your system its 99 X 20.

The watts per gal is only a rule of thumb for florecent lighting. If you go with MH lighting for example toss the WPG idea out the window. Depending on what you want to keep 7-10WPG will be good or could be excessive. What are your ultimate goals?

 

[thefishguy]

I would like to have a tank that could hold basically all of the types of coral. also if I did have two metal halides what Kelvin should they be rated. also which do I want 20 X sytem capacity or 20 X tank capacity