Lets talk pumps!

[Mark_C]

With my 100g system I'm starting to get some SPS onboard. As a zoa guy for the past few years I've had minimum 10-20x flow in my tanks.
I'm aware that with SPS I should kick that turnover up to 50-60x.

Here's what I have:
2 Tunze 6040 Turbelles, one on each side, each at 1,100gph
2 500gph sea-swirls on back wall to cause a bit of chaos in flow

So, somewhere around 3,000gph circulating.
I'm guessing I should kick this up to 6,000.

Was thinking of moving the Tunze 6040s to the back wall aiming out towards the side panels and adding a third wavemaker or gyre to one side of the tank (or two to both sides).

Anyone have any SPS flow advice, powerhead advice, or even placement advice?
Keep in mind I don't have the budget atm to drop a couple of MP60s in there.
I was looking at the new AI Nero, the Current eFlux, and the gen3 Gyre.

Any thoughts, discussions, or insults appreciated.

 

[amado]

I would go with the gyre it moves a lot water and the flow is also not a direct flow. I would stay away from the current I purchased them when I started my tank and that was a mistake.

 

[Mark...]

I'd look for a couple of nicly used mp 40s. I had a gyre and it was problematic after 6 months or so.

 

[David@wegetkraken]

Since you already have the Tunze, I'd go with the new Gen 3 Maxspect Gyres. Tunze seems to have the best reliability and VorTech the best ease of maintenance, but I don't think either matches the out and out flow of the Maxspects. Gen 3 improved on a lot of the downsides of previous models too (noise, PITA maintenance, etc...). Picking up a couple of those and probably either some MP60s or Tunze for my new build.

 

[Sponge]

BRS. Recently did an experiment to test the idea that more flow is better. It does not relate exactly to what you are asking but it is worth a watch as it implies. That more flow. Is not necessarily of any advantage. Yes you need flow. Of course. Lots of it. But you may not need as much as you think in my opinion it’s worth a watch to add to your data set.

 

[David@wegetkraken]

Don't know your tank thickness, but check out the ability of the magnets too. Lots of recent reviews on more than one brand having difficulty even staying on 1/2".

 

[horseplay]

I had a mp40 running on that tank and it was sufficient. I actually bought two and ran for a month with two pumps but didn’t see much a difference. So I removed one because there was a lot of wire already. There is a dead spot under the pump which was not a big problem. Like everything else it worked good enough so the trouble of getting a more sophisticated (and expensive) setup is not justified.

 

[jgraz]

Keep in mind your fish and any LPS you will keep.
I'm running 2 MP40's and a Crossflow, all at around 40%. Any higher and I can clearly see some fish having a hard till with the flow, not all though. That is in a standard 90g tank. More flow then any SPS could hope for.

 

[DEL]

mp40s are on sale right now everywhere. 329 instead of 360. I'm about to order 2 of them