Filtration vs water circulation

[Cheche]

When ppl tells you the you need 10x water circulation this means that you need to pass the water through your sump or just to circulate the water on main DT? As far as Ik you should only pass the water through your sump the amount the your protein skimmer can Handel . That is call filtration.. any one have any input on this ?

 

[ndrwater]

You have the basic jist yes. I would say 10x thought the filtration is adequate, and depending on what type of tank you have, the flow in the tank could potentially be as high as 50-100x tank volume

 

[Cheche]

I have a 90g reef tank mix .. but 50 to 100x will be 9k gallons per hour or 4.5k gallons per hour and my protein skimmer don’t filter 900 gallons per hour .. my understanding is 3 to 4 times through the sum

 

[Hemmdog]

I have a 90g reef tank mix .. but 50 to 100x will be 9k gallons per hour or 4.5k gallons per hour and my protein skimmer don’t filter 900 gallons per hour .. my understanding is 3 to 4 times through the sum

10x through the sump, 100x in the display(powerheads)

 

[Peace River]

I have a 90g reef tank mix .. but 50 to 100x will be 9k gallons per hour or 4.5k gallons per hour and my protein skimmer don’t filter 900 gallons per hour .. my understanding is 3 to 4 times through the sum

These are good rules of thumb that will vary based on several things including your types of fish and coral. Remember that there are multiple types of filtration including mechanical, biological, and chemical and the impact of the numbers of times through your sump will depend on what filtration is in your sump. After all, a sump is just a glass box where you can put stuff that you don't want in your main tank.