Pump and benefits of increasing flow rate?

It depends on how you are wanting to use your sump. Some use them for more biological filteration and the slower flow is actually more beneficial to bacteria growth than the incresed speed. Now on the opposite side of that is the increased speed of turnover increases the mechanical filteration because of the amount of times the water is going thru your sump and hitting the filter media. You have to decide which you want, some reach a happy medium and some like me set up filters for different uses...my sump for biological, canister for mechanical and hang on back with both.

batang_mcdo said:

So slower flow better for bio?

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yes, gives the bb more contact

I would just put a powerhead in the tank and leave the sump as it is.

batang_mcdo said:

up up
having thoughst again on flow rate

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A large sump /tank can be run at 2-3 turnover/hour for bio. I don't have links but I've seen people post their turnovers for really huge tanks and they said they ran fine at low rates below 3. Now if you are going to be over stocked with carnivores, small filter, poor circulation and feeding huge meals, you may find low turnovers are an issue.

Low turnovers aren't necessarily great for mechanical, but for bio you get good contact time and if you have adequate bio material it will be fine.

Another question for op.
Is your sump gravity fed. If so, how big of feed line r u using? Some gravity fed systems don't flow at a high rate
I'm only using a 3/4 PVC and it only flows at about 300 gals per hour.
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