Return Pump

[ph33nyx]

I've recently been wondering if I had enough flow from my return pump. Tank is a 37g cube with a Rio 8HF. I was in a hurry when I bought the pump and I thought 8 would be 800 gph, but I just looked at the specs and its rated at 550gph (270 @ 4'). The return comes out into my tank at about 4.5', so I would presume that I'm actually only pushing about 240ish.
Isn't that kind of low?

 

[bjohanson1234]

Depends on what else you have for flow in your tank. Return flow is just a portion of total flow. I believe that you want to aim at between 20-40 times the tank volume. At 240 on a 37 is roughly 6-7 times so you need to be making that up with some other power heads.

 

[ph33nyx]

I'm runnning two Scicce Voyager 2 pumps in the DT.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Bj.

 

[ph33nyx]

Thanks....
The Voyagers are rated at 800gph, but I think I'm still going to upgrade the return pump (maybe a mag 9).

 

[d2mini]

I would upgrade regardless of what powerheads you have in the tank.
If you can get an 800gph pump that you thought you were getting in the first place, that would be good. And then tackle the task of optimizing flow inside the tank, especially if you plan on sps.

 

[ph33nyx]

Thanks.
I just saw a Danner 9.5 and 12 for 0.01+$15 s\h on Amazon. So I ordered a 12 instead.