Pumps, Flow and Direction.

[Rollies]

I got given a 96L Ocean Free all in one marine tank. It has a rear sump with filtration, and an air driven protein skimmer.

The pump it came with, whilst not broken is incredibly loud. I've checked it over and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it apart from the impeller rattles against the 'cage'. The pump that came with the tank on the box flows about 1300lph or 340gph, and pushes water from the rear sump back into the tank through flexible nozzle.

Instead of trying to trouble shoot it further I was looking to getting a new pump and really wanting the Tunze Recirculation Pump Silence 1073.020 which flows about 800lph which is about 200gph, and then adding the Fluval Sea CP1 Circulation Tank which moves about 1000 lph or 250gph on a timer or 'smart' switch. My plan is to run the Tunze constantly and switch the Fluval on an off on a day/night schedule.

Is the Tunze/Fluval combination a sufficient replacement, I really want to slow the flow down from the sump as right now when the 1300lph is on it pushes water so hard against the wall on the other-side that it splashes quite a lot (not sure if it's suppose to be that way, but mine does). And this way would allow me more control of the 'waves' as the output nozzle isn't very flexible?

Any help on this would be really appreciated.

[wrenfeathers]

Hey Rollies
Yep, I think that sounds fine. If possible, turn down the fluval in tank circulation pump rather than switching it off for the night period.

[wrenfeathers]

Actually, I don’t think your fluval circulation will be enough. Most people like to use a water turnover of somewhere between 5 and 10 times the total tank volume (via the return pump) and have an in-tank circulation of anywhere between 20 and 50 times, depending on what corals are kept. So whilst your Tunze will be fine for the return you may or may not have enough in-tank circulation via the fluval. Depends on what livestock you would like to keep. If you find you would like to buy corals down the line that require stronger water moment you could just add a second circulating pump.