View Full Version : what's the correct way to position my 2 #2 koralia powerheads?
Fitter17
02-22-2009, 5:48 PM
I have a 55 gallon fowler tank and want to know the correct way to position my 2 number 2 koralia power heads. I have 55 pounds of cured live rock and 2 ocesarilis clown fish in their. I hope the two power heads arent too much. I also have a fluval 305 and a seaclone 100 protein skimmer. Please let me know. Or should I have them on a timer switch?
That's definitely not too much flow. I'd put them on each corner angled down towards the rocks. Oh and that seaclone skimmer is not the greatest you may want to upgrade when money permits.
Fitter17
02-22-2009, 8:47 PM
what kind of protein skimmer do you recommend?
I'll let other people chime in with that answer as I've only had two skimmers, My first was a seaclone 100 which did pretty good at first and I didn't know why so many people hated them, then after a month it constantly poored microbubbles into the tank and even with constant adjustments would barely pull any skimmate. I then bought an aquac remora and honestly I don't see what the big deal about them is. When I first got it, it skimmed really wet and I'd have to dump it out every day. Now even after a week it has less than a 1/4" of skimmate.
Catpicklesdog
02-23-2009, 9:14 AM
I'd actually position the powerheads at the back pointing towards the front but high enough so that they cause some surface agitation.
I use a V2 skimmer. Although it's the first one I've ever had, it certainly seems to pull the gunk from the water. It can be used as an in sump slimmer or as a "hang-on" skimmer.
JMO
ToeJam
02-23-2009, 4:16 PM
I am still a Octopus fan... and its my next choice in my skimmer upgrade..I am using that Coralife 220 super skimmer. And yes its quarky like they say. I have to constantly maintain good water level in the sump or it ends up going crazy..constantly having to tune it every few days to keep it on dry skim.
Seaclones have a bad rap due to design.... Skimming Basics 101: Understanding Your Skimmer by Frank Marini, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/fm/feature/index.php)
They dont have lots of contact time and they collect very poorly even if modified. Understanding skimmers you will see why that thing is poorly made.
As for flow...no such thing as too much =p. I think you should add more. My clowns sit in front of a Korilia #4 like a treadmill. Silly clowns.
masterkaw
02-23-2009, 5:42 PM
In the beginning I had the same question. IME, I have moved my koralia's a few times until you finally find a sweet spot. IMO, I think it is hard to tell you the "correct way" to position them because depending on where your rocks are or how much rock you have the flow will be different. A couple things you should make sure is that there is no dead spots and/or the koralia's are not blowing your sand or substrate all over the place. I have approximately 2800gph on a 72 gallon tank and I had to move them until I found a good spot. I been in the saltwater hobby for one year, so I'm still a newbie. This is just what I have experienced.
ToeJam
02-24-2009, 12:43 PM
In the beginning I had the same question. IME, I have moved my koralia's a few times until you finally find a sweet spot. IMO, I think it is hard to tell you the "correct way" to position them because depending on where your rocks are or how much rock you have the flow will be different. A couple things you should make sure is that there is no dead spots and/or the koralia's are not blowing your sand or substrate all over the place. I have approximately 2800gph on a 72 gallon tank and I had to move them until I found a good spot. I been in the saltwater hobby for one year, so I'm still a newbie. This is just what I have experienced.
Yah with limited PH its the only way to go about it is to move them around...the only thing you want to avoid is causing a swirl ..you will know by the debris tornado forming in areas...
I drew horribly a picture of PH placement...the Red Circles are placement spots... and the other diagram is how the flow would work... Red line is alternative directoins..
(file://///vhapugnas3/fdrive$/VHAPUGFarmeW/My%20Pictures/55%20PH%20placement.bmp)
mr.cichlid
02-24-2009, 4:51 PM
I have a 55g tank and i have two koralia 3 power heads. I felt it was too much flow so now i am running one in the day time and the other in the night time programmed by the power center to automatically turn on and off. Both are placed opposite to each other on the sides of the tank.
Amphiprion
02-24-2009, 7:21 PM
There's no real "correct" way to position them. You should position them to where all sections of the tank receive adequate flow. If you have organisms that require a certain amount of flow, you should adjust it accordingly, in addition to the rest of the tank.
I also agree that that is far from too much water motion.
ToeJam
02-25-2009, 11:29 AM
There's no real "correct" way to position them. You should position them to where all sections of the tank receive adequate flow. If you have organisms that require a certain amount of flow, you should adjust it accordingly, in addition to the rest of the tank.
I also agree that that is far from too much water motion.
True cause of aquascape and coral placement...other factors like that...
All we can do if give suggestions and go from there till you tweak it the way you like.
Since I had a 55g reef for a while I found that placement pretty good reason I drew that horrible pic. I did not mention I had stronger versions of Korilia PH's though.