How much flow are you running through your sump?

[Rufus’ goofs]

Yeah, it's a reef octopus 150int on a 40 gallon with about 15 gallons in the sump.

I figured I could keep the refugium going during the day, and get amazing oxygenation at night. But that may change, depending on how well the fuge grows. I may run the fuge at night instead, just so that it's guaranteed a time of dominance over the nutrients.

Have you decided how you're going to run yours? I'm very curious to see.

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

Triton system... A little more than 10x, straight path through fuge and sump.

New to me... I've always tried to keep fuge rates down, but Triton recommends 10x... So far so good, Calurpa Mexicana seems to love the flow.

very cool. I did not know that. I'm going to have to look into it.

 

[Saltybubbles288]

Here's a picture of mine i still have to set up the fuge, but I put valves on every line so I can make changes as needed. The fuge is going to house a few critters so I decided to opt for a separate pump so i could control the flow

 

[George Lopez]

Ok so here is my plan everything with true union ball valves except for the skimmer (gate valve and a true union) which is on a manifold with a capped end for future expansion

here is what it will look like assembled hopefully

And if all goes well here is my cut plan for a single 24" x 48" sheet of 0.22" acrylic with the cuts numbered for less mistakes

 

[mfinn]

Back when I first started using a sump ( 1989) I was all over the board with flow.
First I was told you had to create flow with the return pump. So I would really try and push the envelope with the amount of flow the overflow could handle.
That turned into a small disaster once.
Then someone convinced me slow flow was where it's at.
But that had issues too.
So over the years I found what works best for me is right around 5x to 6x.

 

[George Lopez]

Back when I first started using a sump ( 1989) I was all over the board with flow.
First I was told you had to create flow with the return pump. So I would really try and push the envelope with the amount of flow the overflow could handle.
That turned into a small disaster once.
Then someone convinced me slow flow was where it's at.
But that had issues too.
So over the years I found what works best for me is right around 5x to 6x.

Thank you

 

[TMB]

I gree with most here and feel that 7-10x turnover works well. I typically buy DC pumps that allow me to adjust anywhere in that range. I also look for pump ratings that allow me to run in the 70-80% range and achieve the desired turnover.

 

[d2mini]

I'm really surprised that anyone is really running 20x.
That's a pretty insane amount of flow through a sump.
Is this measured with a flow meter?

I ran Triton for a while and found even trying to reach 10x was difficult and unnecessary.
Now I'm running right at 5x.

 

[DaveMorris]

I run about 10x on my 120g, but my refugium is fed through a manifold. I have that flow cut back way lower than 10x. I never bought into the idea of trying to match your sump flow to your skimmer flow. You have no way of controlling what portion of the water goes through your skimmer and what portion just blows right past it, unless you are feeding your skimmer with 100% of your return water. 99% of us don't do it that way. Because of this, I do not see how flow through the sump can in any way effect the skimmer efficiency unless it is in the negative because your flow is way too slow. If you don't run filter socks or any other mechanical filtration then it is a waste of energy to have a high flow through the sump.

 

[billy1205]

I'm using 3 return pump (2 x jebao 6000 and 1 x vectra L1) which come to a total of 23500l/hr. My total tank volume is about 1500liter, therefore come to a total of 15 times turn over. I heard from few reefers said that the more turn over the healthier tank.

 

[mfinn]

I heard from few reefers said that the more turn over the healthier tank.

Why would that be?

 

[swk]

No more than 3x an hour here. Any more than 5x is a waste in my opinion.

 

[ifarmer]

I ususlly do about 5-10% turn over ratio.

 

[ALbque]

10x per hour , works 4 me..... 60gal cube w 20gal sump. My skimmer works fine at this rate turnover.

 

[MartinWaite]

The way I understand Triton is that Triton want you to run 10x straight into/through the algae so most/all the nutrients feed the algae which causes it to grow in conjunction with the light and then what's left are removed via the skimmer. Then you need another 10x movement within the display tank pushing the debris and that towards the overflow giving a total of 20x within the display.

 

[roberthu526]

I am running 3-4 times. My goal is close to my skimmer intake rate.

 

[billy1205]

Why would that be?

Detritus will not have chance to accumulated as it will free flow in the water column and habe higher chance to skim out by protein skimmer.

 

[mfinn]

Detritus will not have chance to accumulated as it will free flow in the water column and habe higher chance to skim out by protein skimmer.

That's why you create flow inside the tank with powerheads or closed loop.
Then it can get to the sump and get taken up by the skimmer and settle out.

 

[Chris Villalobos]

I had a really slow turnover rate for the first year I was reefkeeping ( around 2x). During that time I had a terrible outbreak of GHA that seemed to never go away no matter how low I kept my nutrients. Since then I've done many things to fight the GHA, but one of those things I did was up my turnover rate.

I'm now wondering if I was letting ammonia dwell to much in my display and the GHA was utilising it before I could get it down to the algae in the sump. That is a BRS experiment waiting for an answer.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Fuge design without splitting overflow or return manifold...