Too Much Flow Through Sump?

icedearth15324

icedearth15324

TeamCR
I've had my tank setup for about two years now, but never really bothered to think about this. I have been having a super hard time getting my nitrates and phosphates down, even with running a fuge, biopellet reactor, and GFO.

I've been thinking lately that maybe I have too much flow going through my sump to really make these effective, so I wanted everyone else's opinion.

It is a 75G tank, with a 30G sump. I have a 1.5" drain, which splits into two 1" drains that go into the sump. I then have a Danner Mag 9.5 which is supposed to be 950gph, with zero restrictions on the pump.

I have a valve on the drain but if I limit it too much, then the pump will over-power it.

Could this be too much flow to prevent my sump from properly doing its job?
 
depends on set up if fuge is in sump then maybe . My fuge is seperate so i run small pump low flow reactors should work fine cause the flow should be controlled
 
I wouldn't think so, you seen my 75 and I had about 850gph, but I do believe in what your saying and have thought the same thing at one time , so I went a head and got mp40s for flow and and let the skimmer and everything else I had in the sump do there thing. Everyone has a theory that you need to turn over so much water in a hr but what really is the benefit of that, all your equipment has no time to work.


Tom
 
Yea I just feel like the turnover in my sump prevents the skimmer and biopellet reactor from really doing their jobs. I have not really seen any form of decline in nitrates in my tank even though I have decreased feeding, and done more waterchanges. So this is one of my last checks.
 
the sump's flow rate should have nothing to do with the efficiency of your skimmer or reactors, which should have a dedicated flow rate that should be adjustable via a flow valve...high flow will certainly reduce the efficiency of you fuge however...
I would be more inclined to think you may have dead spots in your sump and DT that have accumulated detritus...do you regularly clean out any detritus build-up in your sump chambers?
I would also inquire as to what foods you are feeding and supplements you are dosing, if any, as a lot of foods/supplements actually contain phosphates themselves...

BTW, what are your Nitrate and Phosphate readings?
 
I shop-vac my sump around once every couple months. I used to have dead spots in my DT, but I have a Gyre XF130 now which I see helps clear up a lot of the dead spots I used to have.

I don't put any supplements into the tank right now, or dosing. For food, I usually feed spectrum pellets and Rod's food, and rotate the two. So pellets one day, rod's the next. Then maybe once a week I will feed like cyclopeeze or something small for some corals.
 
icedearth15324 said:
For food, I usually feed spectrum pellets and Rod's food, and rotate the two. So pellets one day, rod's the next. Then maybe once a week I will feed like cyclopeeze or something small for some corals.
Click to expand...

FWIW, all foods contain phosphates, either naturally or as an added preservative...but frozen foods typically contain higher levels of phosphate...
I personally stopped feeding Rod's on a regular or even a semi-regular basis as I had experienced much higher phosphate levels while feeding it.
Presuming you're feeding a decent sized portion of it, there is a chance your high phosphate levels may be attributed to that since you are feeding Rod's every other day...

I now feed Spectrum pellets and flakes everyday and feed frozen mysis, rinsed in RO water first, only once (sometimes twice) a week.

If you are willing to experiment then I would try to avoid feeding Rod's for a week or two and monitor your nitrate & phosphate levels....
if you find that you see a significant reduction, then you'll know to feed Rod's once in a while rather than 3-4x a week....

GL
 
cet98 said:
FWIW, all foods contain phosphates, either naturally or as an added preservative...but frozen foods typically contain higher levels of phosphate...
I personally stopped feeding Rod's on a regular or even a semi-regular basis as I had experienced much higher phosphate levels while feeding it.
Presuming you're feeding a decent sized portion of it, there is a chance your high phosphate levels may be attributed to that since you are feeding Rod's every other day...

I now feed Spectrum pellets and flakes everyday and feed frozen mysis, rinsed in RO water first, only once (sometimes twice) a week.

If you are willing to experiment then I would try to avoid feeding Rod's for a week or two and monitor your nitrate & phosphate levels....
if you find that you see a significant reduction, then you'll know to feed Rod's once in a while rather than 3-4x a week....

GL
Click to expand...

I'll definitely need to try that. I'll just need to keep my girlfriend away because she thinks I'm making the fish sad when I only feed them pellets. I'll feed only pellets and then some mysis for my mandarin every few days(he eats pellets too but just to keep him fat) and I'll keep an eye on my levels.

My phosphate was 2.28 based on my hanna checker and I think my nitrate regularly gets to around 50 based on Red Sea. I'm planning on doing a thorough cleaning this weekend of my sump and overflow box to clean out any detritus, as well as a nice sized water change.

Everything but SPS does good in my tank.
 
Ok so craig aka cet i was with u on that frozen contains more and i still am but there was a post on here while back that had a link to a research article that says we r wrong about that and that pellets actually produce more phosphates . Guess some study was done and test . Dont get me wrong i still think that frozen makes more sense of having phosphates but according to the study we r wrong and pellets do lol just throwing that out there any way study smudy im still on your side buddy
 
I think 10x flow is pretty reasonable. I usually keep mine there as well. I don't like to go much higher a than that, as I want good fuge, etc, contact time. I use power heads for the rest of the flow. But I think your setups sounds just about right with the gyre in it.


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Do you use filer socks? They tend to be a love it or hate it kind of thing. But I'll use them for a few hours every few days to "polish" my water, esp if I clean and kick up debris.


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I am of the thought that u shouldn't have more flow than your skimmer can pull. Your not creating flow from your sump . It is your filtration. Contact time guy
 
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