How Many MAASTards ....
... does it take to design an aquarium system?
Thought I would start this thread to hopefully accumulate some info on tank/sump/skimmer/etc. design thoughts. MAAST has a ton of folks jumping into "Upgrades", and maybe some info here will help them as they design/refine their systems. There have been at least a half dozen threads in the past month or two regarding waterflow through the sump/fuge and associated problems, one of the largest being microbubbles.
So, my advice points are ...
- When computing flow, remember - a 200g tank probably only has 150g of true water capacity due to glass thicknes, sand, and LR)
- A big tank with good flow doesn't mean ONE MONSTER pump
- a 200g (150g of water) tank with 20X-30X flow means something like 3000-4500gph of flow, if you accomplish this with one pump you have all this flow passing through your sump
- 3K-4K flow through a (say) 40g sump = ~75X through the sump
- ANY bubbles that enter the sump at 75X WILL NOT ESCAPE
- 75X through the sump doesn't give the "Dirty" water enough contact time with the skimmer
- The return pump should target <5X flow (~750gph for a 200g), and probably no more than 10X-15X through the sump (75-50g sump in this example)
- If possible, plumb your skimmer inlet/outlet to the same compartment of your sump so that no additional flow is added by the skimmer
- Use multiple pumps! One for return, another for Skimmer, one or more for closed loops.
- With multiple pumps, if one breaks you may not need to post in the EMERGENCY forum ;)
Of course this is all just my opinion ... happy designing!!
So, what are some other's thoughts & recommendations?
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Originally Posted by ~pete~
