So I have a 100 gal tank with about a 1 1/2 sand bed. It's been running fine for about 6 months now and still is (this is my first salt tank). Never any ammonia or nitrite or nitrate spikes, ph has always been stable...today I started reading and wanted to know how to calculate flow rate. I found that you add your total GPH and divide by your tank size and that gives you your turnover rate. Well I have two 660gph powerheads and that gives me like a 13x turnover rate. I currently have a piece of stony coral and some polyps in my tank and they've been in for almost 4 months and are doing great, growing and all. I want to start adding more coral, do I have enough flow?
Powerhead flow rate for aquarium
- Thread starter iyaayas
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Reeferdood
2500 Club Member
This is a debatable topic on so many levels. I would say that it totally depends on what type of livestock you plan on keeping. If you are doing SPS/LPS you will want more flow. If you are doing softies, not so much. Don't blast the crap out of everything in your tank and cause a sandstorm. I have 2 MP 40's set on gyre mode in my 180 and it is perfect for my reef, all answers will vary so find what works best for your critters... Trust me, they will let you know when they aren't happy....
mcarroll
10K Club member
You can certainly keep some coral happy with those pumps, but in the long run you will want more.
A good run of thumb seems to be 20x to 40x your display size in GPH. That's using the rating on the powerhead box.
That's sure to get you into the right neighborhood, but you can see there's still quite a range.
Every tank is different, so you have to decide what's best for your tank.
@Reeferdood how long has the tank you described been set up?
A good run of thumb seems to be 20x to 40x your display size in GPH. That's using the rating on the powerhead box.
That's sure to get you into the right neighborhood, but you can see there's still quite a range.
Every tank is different, so you have to decide what's best for your tank.
@Reeferdood how long has the tank you described been set up?
Reeferdood
2500 Club Member
My current tank is going on 2 Years
Brew12
Electrical Gru
From everything I've seen the higher the flow rate the more places in your tank high flow requiring coral will thrive. In a 100g tank you could grow coral in a very limited area with a 100gph pump. So it's really a matter of total flow, pump placement, and your aquascape.
You should also count your sump return pump as part of your total flow if you use a sump.
