Flow needed in a Bimac tank?

[MarkS]

I am about to buy a 240 and set it up as a species tank. I have found a great deal of information, but not much dealing with water flow. How much is too much and how little is not enough? Does it matter?

TIA,
Mark

 

[tjohnson]

I have read 6-10 cycles a hour our ideal, however with that large of tank you could probly get away with much less since it would take a very long time to build up waste, however, someone please back me up because I have never delt with tanks so large.

 

[RandyB]

I set my tank up with about 20x per hour turn over. It all depends on how you direct the flow, you don't want it to be like a river in there. I think having a lot of flow through your wet/dry and your skimmer are good because that's what gives so much oxygen to the water.

 

[Andy Lister]

If you have too much water through a skimmer it can just pump water into your collection reservoir, make sure it's all waste thats coming through or you will have to do more water changes than necessary

~Andy

 

[MarkS]

I'm going to buy a skimmer from Andy at Myreef Creations. These skimmers require a high flow pump. However, the tank will be drilled and the equipment will be in the sump. The overflows will be enclosed to prevent escape.

I am not a fan of wet/dry filters. They tend to be nitrate factories. That may not be as huge of an issue with an octopus as it is in a reef, but it is an issue none the less. I prefer to use live sand/live rock and water changes to take care of the biological filtration.

If the octopus can withstand higher flow, I will probaly set up a surge device for the majority of the flow and use a smaller return pump.

 

[RandyB]

Octopus make large amounts of ammonia and that's why wet/dry filters are so good. It's not like a reef tank that has a small ammonia load.

 

[MarkS]

Octopus make large amounts of ammonia and that's why wet/dry filters are so good. It's not like a reef tank that has a small ammonia load.

That is true. Even though it's an invertibrate, it should be treated as a fish only set up. Still don't like them, but maybe it's for the best.