water flow questions

[james123]

i have a 55 gallon setup that i am trying to do a reef with mostly soft corals and such, and it seems like every day i learn about something else that is inadequate in my setup. today it's water flow. so i just have a hang on back skimmer and one powerhead that is 400 liters which i transfer to 100 gph. now i've learned that i need close to ten times that much?!?!?!?!?! The one power head i have i have a hard time adjusting it so that it doesn't blow the sand everywhere or blow directly on my colt coral, which is a good sized peice but by no means huge. I just can't see putting 2 400gph powerheads in my tank without constantly stirring up the sand in the bottom or blowing my fish all over the tank!!! could someone give me some advice on this???? is it just a placement issue. the powerhead i have now pretty much blows in a straight line, do some of the others disperse the water over a larger area???

[ToeJam]

i have a 55 gallon setup that i am trying to do a reef with mostly soft corals and such, and it seems like every day i learn about something else that is inadequate in my setup. today it's water flow. so i just have a hang on back skimmer and one powerhead that is 400 liters which i transfer to 100 gph. now i've learned that i need close to ten times that much?!?!?!?!?! The one power head i have i have a hard time adjusting it so that it doesn't blow the sand everywhere or blow directly on my colt coral, which is a good sized peice but by no means huge. I just can't see putting 2 400gph powerheads in my tank without constantly stirring up the sand in the bottom or blowing my fish all over the tank!!! could someone give me some advice on this???? is it just a placement issue. the powerhead i have now pretty much blows in a straight line, do some of the others disperse the water over a larger area???


The sand will settle ... it wont blow all over forver..once it settles and the tank adjust to the flow you will be fine.

You want flow...if you talk to some divers that have been to reefs the flow is incredible there... so having lots of flow is natural for a reef.

You do want lots of flow to stir detritus and keep it in the water column to be skimmed out... you also want to get rid of any stagnant flow areas because it leads to a breading ground of a cyano break out.

My suggestion...is having a power head in each corner pointing to the center of the 55 gallon...then putting a smaller PH dead center below the bowing bracket support area...and have the PH's all aim to one location to disturb the flow so you dont get swirls going... this would be sufficient .

Korilla 4 on each corner and a korilla 1 in center would be one idea...its not as bad as you think... I had more flow than this suggestion in my last tank the 55g...some sand did move...but instead of a perfectly flat sand bed it looked like sand dunes a little is all...no biggy.

Your fish will like the flow...by the way.. My tang, red wrasse, and two clowns constantly play in front of my Korilla 4.

[james123]

so shoould i put them toward the bottom of the tank aiming upward, or at the top aiming down, or in the middle aiming in a straight line?

[Amphiprion]

Try different powerheads. I suggest Hydor Koralias (though if you don't mind the extra cost, Tunze Nanostream 6025s are one of the best options available, especially after a super simple modification). Also consider maxijet mods. All of the above are able to disperse the water in a very wide, low velocity pattern (as opposed to the usual concentrated stream). By using similar options to the above, I was able to get about 22000 gph (you read that correctly ;)) of bulk water movement in my previous 75 gallon--without aggravating any corals (even "lower flow" ones), as well as fish.

[ToeJam]

so shoould i put them toward the bottom of the tank aiming upward, or at the top aiming down, or in the middle aiming in a straight line?

I think you will have to toy around some..by my old tank... I had placed my Korilla's about 7" below the water line on the back wall left corner and right corner..then I angled them to aim towards the center of the tank.

The other korilla I had dead center back wall hitting the face of the tank..the collision of the side flows meeting at the center caused it to break up the flow and and had random flow shifts...on purpose. To avoid the "swirl". You want them to collide.

You can mess around by placing them much lower in the tank and on the side walls..aiming upwards and at center....the thing you want to accomplish is constant flow movement throughout the tank... though you may not have flow directed at some areas..the dispersion of so much water volume will cause all the water in the tank to stir.

The above poster has suggested some brands to pick up.. korilla are a little expensive..but they are very nice. They have a magnet on them so you can place them anywhere in the tank. Plus not so bulky like those Penguins you see at Petco.

You dont have to use my idea..it was only to help give you some guidance in what ever decision you go with. Its really not all about how much GPH you have thats probably like 1/2 of the solution...placement is key even with lower than recommended flow...if you place things just right...you can achieve a good stir in the tank. Thats the goal.

PS> I have 4 Koralia;s ...

The powerheads of choice that I have discussed and read about on another site...

Tunz
SEIO (believe thats the name)
Hydor Koralia

Those 3 are pretty popular...