Fast or slow thru sump?

Fishboyy666 · Jan 14, 2020

ReefGeezer said:
I don't measure it. I have mostly SPS corals. Pale corals, lack of polyp extension, and slower than normal growth lead me to believe that organics might be low.

Organics or nitrates. My nitrates are 20ppm..everything is growing like crazy

ReefGeezer · Jan 14, 2020

Fishboyy666 said:
Organics or nitrates. My nitrates are 20ppm..everything is growing like crazy

We're getting away from the OP's question. Start a new thread if you want. I'll respond there.

mfinn · Jan 14, 2020

Fishboyy666 said:
Hi opinions on fast or slow thru sump .match skimmer gph?

I don't try and match the skimmer.
I usually go for 4x to 6x the tank volume through the sump.

Fishboyy666 · Jan 14, 2020

ReefGeezer said:
We're getting away from the OP's question. Start a new thread if you want. I'll respond there.

Oki I'm sorry .I'm not familiar with this.lol

mfinn · Jan 14, 2020

ReefGeezer said:
We're getting away from the OP's question. Start a new thread if you want. I'll respond there.

Since Fishboyy666 is the OP in this thread, it's understandable if he does ask other questions.

ReefGeezer · Jan 14, 2020

mfinn said:
Since Fishboyy666 is the OP in this thread, it's understandable if he does ask other questions.

Oh crap... my bad. Sorry Fishboy666. Thanks Mfinn.

So, I have mostly SPS corals. I measure nitrate every once in a while but it is never more than barely... and I mean barely... pink on my Salifert kit. That's like .2 ppm. But I really don't do much to keep it low anymore. I don't think it does much harm at any reasonable level other than encourage algae. Neither do I think elevated levels are required. The corals can get the nitrogen they need from the nitrogen compounds resulting from biological processes like fish waste and respiration.

I don't test DOC in any form. I have a decent number of good sized fish that are well fed. That ensures that my DOC remains at a level that provides food for the corals and other organisms that benefit from them. I adjust the skimmer, add or remove GAC, and increase or decrease feeding to keep the corals looking happy. And yes, it's a gut decision informed by a lot of experience/mistakes.

WVNed · Jan 14, 2020

After doing slow and fast, I like fast. The sump stays clean.

S2G · Jan 14, 2020

I like it fast and rough. Keeps chaeto clean.

Honestly I have no idea what my actual gph is. I think its around 10x. I just throttle the valve until I see what I like.

Fishboyy666 · Jan 15, 2020

ReefGeezer said:
Oh crap... my bad. Sorry Fishboy666. Thanks Mfinn.

So, I have mostly SPS corals. I measure nitrate every once in a while but it is never more than barely... and I mean barely... pink on my Salifert kit. That's like .2 ppm. But I really don't do much to keep it low anymore. I don't think it does much harm at any reasonable level other than encourage algae. Neither do I think elevated levels are required. The corals can get the nitrogen they need from the nitrogen compounds resulting from biological processes like fish waste and respiration.

I don't test DOC in any form. I have a decent number of good sized fish that are well fed. That ensures that my DOC remains at a level that provides food for the corals and other organisms that benefit from them. I adjust the skimmer, add or remove GAC, and increase or decrease feeding to keep the corals looking happy. And yes, it's a gut decision informed by a lot of experience/mistakes.

I do the exactly the same ...I barely do water changes..I have always ben successful..I mean here not there I would lose a coral ..but I do drip kalkwasser ..I have hydra 52 wiwth dave saxby setrings on a 65 gal..I spot feed my corals ..but back to flow..I just feel like faster is more flow .kicking uo debri. Pushing it thru overflow into socks..than getten skimmed at whatever skimmer rate 265gph and that's it ..but I did experiment last week .I out 1250 gph pump on .super fast flow .pump did sound like freight train..but I got light color skim on same setting as slow flow..
I out 900gph on for week .same feeding routine etc..and I got darker skim...so theory it looks like slow can have time to skim much more efficiently..hmmmm.

But I'm still gonna get vectra s1..pump ..lol.
Thank u for thoughts .

Fishboyy666 · Jan 15, 2020

EMeyer said:
Yeah, I've never heard a good basis for this "rule" and its never made any sense to me.

Its funny, starting from a similar skeptical perspective I went the opposite way as you - having never heard a convincing argument why I should slow down the flow through the sump, since I want as much flow as possible in the DT, I run my return and flow through sump as fast as the pipes allow

I do think high flow is important in an algal refugium, so it seems easiest to me to just maximize flow through the whole system. Not essential, just the easiest way for me to set it up.

I agree .I like high flow ..just seems to be cleaner..look a fast flowing river .or a slow swamp..but swamp is like huge refugium....im.just baffled