30g cube question

[Ross]

So i just got a 30g cube, drilled with 5 holes in the back for closed loop. 1 1in hole and 4 1/2in holes. My question is how many gph can i run through this? I was thinking I wanted around 700gph but i'm not sure if a 1in bulkhead can suck that much water. I also plan on running a SQWD so only 2 of the 1/2in bulkheads will be shooting water at one time. Do you think this will work, or should i go with something less like 500gph?

[JeremyGlen]

I would shoot for somewhere around 200 or so. I have a 1" bulkhead sucking and 4 1/2" bulkheads blowing and don't get much flow. I also have quite a few 90's in the piping. If you are going to do this, I would go with flex tubing instead of pvc to cut down on the angles and get the most flow possible. My quiet one 4000(1000gph) seems to be flowing about 200-250gph dependinging on how clean the pump is at the time.

[Ross]

Ohh wow thast not nearly as much as i thought. It is all flex tubing, so hopefully i can squeeze quite a bit more flow out of it.

[JeremyGlen]

Yea, if I had to do it again, I would have gone with 1.25" in and .75" out just to make sure I had the room for the flow. You should use the calculator on the site to figure out the best pump to use, though it doesn't go down to .5" output.

[cpreefguy]

I believe that Randy had an OceanRunner 2500 on it, which is 625gph, so it would at least be able to handle that much flow

[Ross]

well I've already got the 1/2in holes and dont feel like drilling all of them out bigger and getting all new bulkheads. any other opinions about how man GPH?

[cpreefguy]

now that I think of it, a 1" bulkhead could handle 700gph just fine, my lifereef overflow box had a single 1" bulkhead and its rating was 700gph and I had a mag7 on the tank...

[Ross]

Yeah thats what i figure, plus flow will be cut down from head height and the Squid. Or should i even run a sqd

[cpreefguy]

Ive heard mixed reviews about it, more bad than good I think, Id just go w/o one

[JimD]

The only reason you hear bad reviews on the sqwd is because these people dont know how to use them correctly. They are an excellent and inexspencive way to create semi-random wave patterns.

[Ross]

I used one before but i dont remember how much it cut down on flow. Is it drastic or not very noticeable?

[JimD]

Im using one on a Mag 12 with about 18" of head and let me tellya, it has plenty of flow! For me, hardly noticable at all.

[Ross]

What do you think about a blueline 40HD. Does 790gph at 0ft of head. Too much?

[JimD]

The sqwd is factory rated at 1400gph and I believe that to be conservative, so 790gph would be no problem. Ive seen them run off Mag 24's in the past.