I am planning to have a 3600 gph pump on my 220 gal tank. My question is how much flow is this going to be in relative terms? I mean I don't want my fish to be in a whirlpool and cant swim. With this pump the tank will have a turnover rate of 16.5 times per hour, which is quite a bit higher than most peoples i have seen. I also made a diy sump setup, but the water will be split in half into to two Bio-towers so each tower will need to be able to handle 1800 gal. The drip plates are 12 in x 12 in with 7/32 in holes every inch, so 144 holes that are 7/32 in big. I just wanted to make sure the holes were big enough. Sorry about all the info haha but once I started typing I though of more stuff to ask. Thanks!
Turn Over rate
- Thread starter CatfishLuver
- Start date
more filtration is better than not enough but it seems as if you would have a really strong current in your tank so i guess it would depend on the species you are going to keep.
Is it rated at 3600 GPH at your intended head height?
I doubt it. Check the pump curve, and see how much you will REALLY be flowing.
If it's too much, you can always plumb in a re-circulation loop so that part of what you pump out of your sump goes back through your bio-filter instead of going into the tank.
This is what I do:
Plumb from pump in sump out of sump
plumb a T to split the flow
run a valve on each end of the split
run from one valve to the tank
run from the other valve to the bio filter
Now, you can vary how much flow goes into the tank WITHOUT stressing your pump by restricting total flow rate by just simply allowing some of the flow to go back into the sump.
There's also other added benifits to this:
I also use this so that I can shut off the flow to my tank (all flow is just re-circulating in my sump). This allows me to feed my fish without a bunch of the food getting swept away into the sump and allows me to do water changes in the tank WITHOUT having to turn the pump off (the less you turn your pump on and off, the better it is for the life of your pump). The only time my pump gets shut off is when the electricity goes out.
I doubt it. Check the pump curve, and see how much you will REALLY be flowing.
If it's too much, you can always plumb in a re-circulation loop so that part of what you pump out of your sump goes back through your bio-filter instead of going into the tank.
This is what I do:
Plumb from pump in sump out of sump
plumb a T to split the flow
run a valve on each end of the split
run from one valve to the tank
run from the other valve to the bio filter
Now, you can vary how much flow goes into the tank WITHOUT stressing your pump by restricting total flow rate by just simply allowing some of the flow to go back into the sump.
There's also other added benifits to this:
I also use this so that I can shut off the flow to my tank (all flow is just re-circulating in my sump). This allows me to feed my fish without a bunch of the food getting swept away into the sump and allows me to do water changes in the tank WITHOUT having to turn the pump off (the less you turn your pump on and off, the better it is for the life of your pump). The only time my pump gets shut off is when the electricity goes out.
The pump is rated for 3600 gph max flow, but I can't find a flow chart. The pump is actually intended for water falls and has a 1 hp motor, so in my setup ( around 2 1/2 vertical and a few elbows) it shouldn't lose that much flow. The 2 bio towers in the setup are huge and the total volume of them combined will be exqual to the volume of around 6 FX5 filters ( i figured out the cubic inches before but cant remember now). Does anyone else have a setup with this kind of turnover rate? The whole setup is diy by the way with rubber maid drawers and tubs.
Bump. Anyone have a way of diffusing the flow when its in the tank? I was thinking like a pvc fitting than split it multiple ways.
What's the brand and model of the pump?
Don't forget that you'll lose a decent bit of flow with 2.5' vertical head and all of the fittings (elbows, T's, etc.).
Again.....Use a recirculation loop like I said if it is too much flow. Pretty simple.
If you want to difuse it.....Multiple inputs will work. I use 4 1" inputs on mine (12XTurnover)
If you want to difuse it.....Multiple inputs will work. I use 4 1" inputs on mine (12XTurnover)
I do like the idea of the recirculation loop but the setup is already very complicated with the two bio towers and stuff I haven't even mentioned ( sand filte, automatic water change systems) so right now after the water goes throught the pump it will either go to the sand filter, the right of the tank, or the left of the tank. To put in the recirculation loop I would have to split from the main return and then split agian so half goes into each bio tower. Its a great idea, but for my setup it would make things alot harder and I am not really willing to fiddle with it. Did you mean multiple outputs? When the water is coming back into the tank? The water will be reentering the tank at two seperate points.
The pump is made by Geoglobal and it is the WPR3600 model. I can't really find to much on it, but it works great. The tank will probably be large central/south american tank with possiblity of a few small Pbass.
The pump is made by Geoglobal and it is the WPR3600 model. I can't really find to much on it, but it works great. The tank will probably be large central/south american tank with possiblity of a few small Pbass.