First Saltwater setup

[Gietz]

Exam are finally over so i took the time to start setup my first 55 gallon reef tank.  the Tank and lights came from Fishit, My Dad and I made the stand (but we took the doors from the stand the tank came with lol) so here is what i got

55 gallon tank and stand,
Powerhead - hydro koralia 750 for front of tank shooting right to left, 450 for back behind live rock going left to right                              
Lights

 

[chablonski]

Looks good cant wait to see it when its done.

 

[fishit]

hey what was wrong with my stand lol jk looks great man that was my first salt tank 2 glad to see it beautiful again

 

[phi delt reefer]

looking good man

I "think" you will need more flow than the 450 and 750. I would swap the 450 for a 1050 and try to get a whirlpool effect started. You may end up with a dead spot in the tank/un-healthy corals if you dont have enough flow. 

 

[Gietz]

I'm also getting an 800 return after head loss, so it comes out to about 32 times the flow I think. That should be good right ??

 

[phi delt reefer]

I'm also getting an 800 return after head loss, so it comes out to about 32 times the flow I think. That should be good right ??

how big is your sump?

all of the below is what i have researched to be the ideal setup... (strictly my opinion is what i am saying  ;D)

You want 3-7x system turnover per hour to ensure your skimmer and other "water polishers" have sufficient time to treat the water. If its moving too fast you may not be able to "clean" the water as effectively. 

800gph return would be good for a total system volume of 110+ gallon (at 7x turnover)

 

[Gietz]

I'm hoping to get a 35 gallon sump, but ow do you calculate the time of water flow?  I have seen on my research that you need 10-20x person but I think with a 450, 750 and an 800 return (split off so each side pushes 400 roughly) that should get me like 36x flow. Would that be ok??

 

[phi delt reefer]

so theres two types of flow you will need to manage;

1. Display tank flow - this is usually achieved with closed loops and power heads and slightly supplemented by your return. Most aim for between 20x and 30x - but there are a lot of tanks with 50x plus. Long story short you want enough flow to keep everything off your sand bed and constantly suspended in the water column so it can either be eaten by the fish and coral or pushed through your overflow to be filtered out in the sump. Well placed power heads can achieve with this little flow - if you are restricted in placement you will need to make up for it in "horsepower".

In your 55 gallon you will want a minimum 1100 gph (20x). I would aim for the 30x plus number though given your powerheads. The 450 (which i have) can barely give you any water movement a foot from the power head - it'll really slow down after that - so you really need a stronger powerhead. Remember its rated for Nano tanks not 55's. 30x means you will need about 1650 gph. Error on the side of more flow - not less. Stagnant water is nothing but trouble.


2. system turn over. This is achieved by your return pump and refers to number of times your total system volume will cycle through the entire system.

You have a 55 gallon tank + a 30 gallon sump - less your rock work, equipment and the fact that your tanks wont run water to the brim lets say your combined volume is about 68 gallons (85 gallons less 15% <- very rough estimate - as you fill your tank with water you can determine the exact gallonage it holds).  As i mentioned before you want about 3-7x turnover. Aim for 7x if you have a powerful pump running your skimmers and other equipment. Aim for 3x in the opposite case. So lets say 5x turnover - that would be 340gph.

You can put a ball/gate valve on the return pump exit to dial it back to that level of flow. It will also reduce the wattage the pump runs at there by making your system more efficient. The other option is to TEE off the return pump and use it to drive your reactors (if you are running some). You will want a ball valve in front of each reactor to dial in the perfect flow for each of them.




in my system - 40ish gallon display and 20 gallon sump, I will be running two Koralia 1050s and an Eheim 1250 that will probably be 250 gph after head loss. My skimmer is rated for a heavily stocked 100g tank (uses a 2500gph pump) and my reactor are running off an MJ1200 so they can both handle the 7x turnover but its more like 4x - 5x.

 

[Gietz]

My main worry is that i have to much flow for the fish, i didn't want those little clowns and chromis to get pushed around lol.

So just to clarify my power heads is what i should be using to calculate water flow? and my return should be lower to sustain the skimmers and cheato?

I'm new at this and i have done my reads it just some thing tell you one thing and others tell you the opposite.

so how does this sound, hopefully i make this clear

750 in the front right of the tank pushing to the left
550 in the back left of the tank  pushing to the right
750 in the back right top hand corner pushing towards the middle of the rocks

so that would be  2050/55 so about 37 times which should be fine?

and my return would be set at about 400 after head lose

how does that sound and i appreciate the help my main concern is that it will not be to fast for the fish

thx again 

 

[phi delt reefer]

power heads and return are used to calculate display tank flow. Ideally MOST of that flow should be coming from power heads or a closed loop, NOT your return.

2x 750s and the 550 should be fine. Dialing the return to 400 sounds right as well.

as mentioned earlier this is all based on my research as well as seeing what works and what doesnt. There are corals that dont like a lot of flow and also fish that arent great swimmers (ie. clowns) but the fish will find the areas where the flow isnt as harsh and as they get older and stronger they will venture right into the powerhead and "hang 10". You will learn to recognize where the low flow spots are in your tank and reserve those spots for low flow corals. You can create flow zones with your powerheads and rock placement.