water flow in a hex tank | Thread profile

i have a 65gal hex tank im putting in a 15 gal sump and a mag5 pump. currently all i have is a fluval which i think is rated at 180gph the mag5 with 4' head will give me 310. with the fluval my waterflow if i point it from back to front seems to create alot of deadspots and if i put it on an angle it bounces off the glass all the way around and creates a whirlpool effect. either way i go with the...

I would deffinatly get another pump or more. Unless you have a special species requiring low flow, 1,200 -2,500 is a good target flow (higher for SPS). I have no experience with this shaped tank. I would think two pumps next to eachother aimed the opposite way around the tank would be a good place to start.

a whirlpool effect is not the greatest. this leads to a low flow area dead in the middle of the tank. most likely a place that you will want to put corals. most corals like a lot of water movement. the more flow the better as long as the corals are not being ripped apart. this requires more flow than you think. do not confuse total flow with velocity though. the velocity of the water is what...

well i ended up with a mag 9.5. i think that will give me plenty of flow im glueing togeather my sump baffles right now so tomorrow ill probly be installing and plumbing everything

could i make a spraybar as my return or is it better to use a cls for a spraybar?

better to use a CLS on a sparybar. that way you do not have the return going all the way to the bottom of the tank. if the power were to go out than the tank will not drain completely. to stop this most people put a small hole at the top near the waters surface. the problem with this is that the water will want to come out that hole instead of the spraybar. less flow out of the spraybar. on ...