Not enough flow?

nerses818 · Nov 11, 2019

Hey there so I have a 150gal tank with a sump where I run a manifold from my return pump. The pump essentially runs both the manifold and my two return lines. My return pump is a fluval sp6 which is rated for about 3600gph. I have 3 different ports on the manifold one is for a aquamaxx biopellet xl reactor which runs 24/7. The second is for an avast marine reactor in which I occasionally run GFO in. And the last port is for another reactor for carbon however I haven’t run this reactor for over a year so the port is essentially been unused. So my concern is that The amount of water coming from my returns is pretty low. And I feel like I may not be getting enough turnover throughout the tank. So I wanted some opinions on whether I should think about running two return pumps one for the manifold and another just for the returns? Or maybe just two pumps feeding this existing manifold but so that I have more water pressure going through the entire thing,,, I was looking and I could comfortably fit two since syncra adv 9.0 pumps side by side in my sumo giving me about 4000-4500 GPH of flow roughly taking head height into account.
I will try to get pics up later to make it more clear as to how things are setup. Any feedback or advice is appreciated.just some thing that I noticed and has been on my mind lately..

ndrwater · Nov 11, 2019

Flow through the tank/filter isn't a major concern. Flow within the tank, is another matter.
Depending on what you keep, is SPS, LPS etc, can make a huge difference
As a real world example, I also run a SP6 on my SPS dominated 240 also running a manifold. BUT.. I also run (2) MP60's at about 90% as well as (2) MP40's at close to 100%.
I have plenty of flow both through the sump and within the tank...

nerses818 · Nov 11, 2019

ndrwater said:
Flow through the tank/filter isn't a major concern. Flow within the tank, is another matter.
Depending on what you keep, is SPS, LPS etc, can make a huge difference
As a real world example, I also run a SP6 on my SPS dominated 240 also running a manifold. BUT.. I also run (2) MP60's at about 90% as well as (2) MP40's at close to 100%.
I have plenty of flow both through the sump and within the tank...

So for flow within the tank I have 2gyre xf130 on the left and right sides of the tank running at about 80 percent and two mp40s on the back wall of my tank which run anywhere for 50-70 percent each as well. So i think I’m good for flow in the tank itself because my end goal is a mixed
reef and this way I have some spots for lower flow for my leathers and lps. But I was kinda concerned about just flow through sump because when I remove my filter socks it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of water is rushing through the sump.. I understand I may be just overthinking things but I appreciate the feedback