Old School vs New School: Flow or Not to Flow

magnetar68

Member
I had a conversation today with an aquarium designer. He talked about the "old school" folks that try to get 2000gph flow through their overflow, sump, and then back up again. Then he talked about the "New School" who run a moderate flow through their sumps but get circulation around the tank by running VorTechs etc. The basic issue being that before these high tech efficient pumps, flow through the overflow and closed loops was the only way to get good circulation.

So I am thinking about going "New School" with my next tank. This will enable me to have quiet laminar flow down my drains, good contact time within my protein skimmer, reasonable flow through my refugium, and a quieter return pump. I will use synchronized VorTechs to get the circulation inside the tank.

Anyone have hands on experience going from old school to new school? Did the corals grow as well? It certainly sounds reasonable.
 

Eric

Google Warrior
PREMIUM
I have always had better luck all around with high flow tanks, low flow never worked for me.
 

cbrownfish

Well-Known Member
I think the newer approach is focused on using a separate flow source to avoid a single point of failure. In the past, people would push a lot of flow using their return pump or closed loop but they end up with a major issue if said pump goes down. If you have multiple flow sources, a single pump failure becomes much less critical (powerheads, return pump, etc). Bulky powerheads can be ugly but newer technology provides lower profile powerheads/pumps and more significant flow from an individual pump.
 
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