I am in the planning stages of an L-shaped tank, dimensions being roughly 30" x 30" and 9' per leg, I figure it to be about 750ish gallons. This will be the largest tank build I have ever done so I will be tossing alot of questions out here in the next few weeks, first one being about my filtration set up. I am going to build my own wet/dry sump filter with K1 kaldnes, sponge mechanical, and submersible pump(s) I have found a few different calculations on how many GPH I will nee to turn this tank over as much as will be needed. I currently have 2x Catalina Aquarium CA 6000 AQUA pumps that I may use depending, that will result in about 3k GPH turnover. Will that be enough turn around for this tank?
750g L-shaped aquarium build
- Thread starter bluehand
- Start date
I dont think thats going to be nearly enough flow. If you look at the flow chart from their website..
.. at 6ft of head pressure the CA6000 can pump out ~2200 l/hr, which is equivalent to ~580 gph. If you have two of them that's a little over 1000 gph for your entire tank, which is a little over 1x turnover rate.
Not to mention that you have two legs on your L shaped tank so it would probably be best to have one pump for each leg, so only 580gph pushing down a 9' leg isnt going to do much.
Also, those pumps look horribly inefficient as they each use 163W and only give you 580gph at 6' head.
In comparison a Laguna Maxflo 4280 which also draws 160W will pump out 2853gph at 6' head. If it were me I would consider getting two of these.
I would definitely look for different pumps though.
.. at 6ft of head pressure the CA6000 can pump out ~2200 l/hr, which is equivalent to ~580 gph. If you have two of them that's a little over 1000 gph for your entire tank, which is a little over 1x turnover rate.
Not to mention that you have two legs on your L shaped tank so it would probably be best to have one pump for each leg, so only 580gph pushing down a 9' leg isnt going to do much.
Also, those pumps look horribly inefficient as they each use 163W and only give you 580gph at 6' head.
In comparison a Laguna Maxflo 4280 which also draws 160W will pump out 2853gph at 6' head. If it were me I would consider getting two of these.
I would definitely look for different pumps though.
Agree that you will want a lot of turn over(flow) in the tank, especailly with a L shape where junk and gunk has to travel. Also sponges for mechanical are really not great for large setups, look into running 4 filter socks 100-200 micron rating and get the 7"x17" or 7"width x 32"length, Or also another idea before you spend allot of money on a large sump and everything look into getting a bead or glass filter and make it an enclosed loop which would be great and can be cheaper depending on what your looking at. Just some ideas
Thank you, I have been looking at some other pump options. I was pondering the two CA6000's because i already had them around, doesnt look like they will be enough after all. After doing a bit of looking I found a Jebao JGP30000 (7900gph) It claims 5950 GPH at 6' I have no experience with these pumps at all so not really sure. It seems cheap enough at $200 but wanted to get a few opinions maybe before buying something I might regret later.
Looked at a few bead filters today, I think you may be right that it could be cheaper (and alot less hassle it would seem) I will figure it out both ways and see. Bead filter would certainly take up less space. Now to figure out how big of one I would need lol. The prices seem to range very drastically. TY for the advice 
