Good Flow For A 75 Gallon?

I'm looking to add a circulation pump (or 2) to my 75 gallon in order to get rid of dead spots and add some current for my cichlids. What would a good flow rate (gph) be to shoot for? I'm running a Magniflow 360 Canister and an Emperor 400, but still have dead spots. I was thinking about rigging up a spray bar as well for the Magniflow and aiming it up for more surface agitation. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

I'm looking to add a circulation pump (or 2) to my 75 gallon in order to get rid of dead spots and add some current for my cichlids. What would a good flow rate (gph) be to shoot for? I'm running a Magniflow 360 Canister and an Emperor 400, but still have dead spots. I was thinking about rigging up a spray bar as well for the Magniflow and aiming it up for more surface agitation. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

How do you tell where your dead spots are?

I have a 55 community betta tank so I have to be creative with water flow.. and I've just come to terms with not knowing exactly where the dead spots are.. I just had to understand that slow-flow isn't no-flow.. and just because the betta isn't fighting a strong current doesn't mean there isn't circulation.

 

AmStatic, you can usually tell where the dead spots in a tank are by where waste/debris/detritus etc. collect on the substrate, without enough water flow or the right direction of water flow, gunk will not get sucked up by the filter.

 

I'm sorry AmStatic, I read your response like you were asking me for your own tank, lol.

I have a driftwood arrangement slightly off center in the tank and no matter which way I try to adjust my canister output, I accumulate debris in the same exact spot.

 

AmStatic, you can usually tell where the dead spots in a tank are by where waste/debris/detritus etc. collect on the substrate, without enough water flow or the right direction of water flow, gunk will not get sucked up by the filter.

Uhoh then.. I have a lot of driftwood that the debris (mostly shrimp-molt) ends up in because there's no flow strong right at substrate level in that area at the corner of the driftwood..

 

I also have a 75g.

Although I don't have the same filters, I do have a large canister and a HOB's, with similar flow rates as yours.

I use a spray bar on my canister's discharge. The intake is on the back left corner and the spray bar is in the right wall and shoots water the left.

Sometimes I rotate the spray bar to a 45° angle down and right, at a 4 o'clock position.

Water shoots down the wall and then flows across the bottom towards the intake.

It will stir up a lot of the detritus.

I think adding a spray bar would work well, and would be my first choice of action.