[GSAS-Member] Flow and filtration

["Doerr, Jesse" <Jesse.Doerr@fei.com>]

It sounds like all of your fish would do fine with some current.  

I wouldn't think that the turnover rate of your tank would be as
important for them as the actual speed of the water.  If the flow in
your tank was uniform from one end to another filtering all your water 4
times per hour would only give you a flow of about 1/2 a foot per minute
which seems pretty leisurely to me.

The only thing that I would really worry about with flow is how fast the
water is going through your filters.  Since we rely on biological
filtration for a lot of our tanks, there is a limit there on how much
water you can push through it and see the most benefit.  I don't know
what the exact numbers are but the rules of thumb I've seen for sumps
and other biological filters is a turnover of 2 - 4 tank volumes per
hour.  

If you want more flow than that for your fish or plants, that's when
you'll be better off adding a closed loop pump or power head.

Jesse
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