Display tank water circulation question

[Gort]

Since I'm getting closer to the point I can actually stock corals, reefers keep harping at me to add some sort of powerhead to the display tank of the Solana. There seems to be a plethora of opinion out there as to how much to boost flow.

Is the goal to prevent "dead spots", increase aeration, circulate a larger volume of water/nutrients past all the corals or all of the above?

 

[DonW]

For the most part you want lots of flow. If you think you have good flow then you probably need more flow. Eliminate the dead spots, increase aeration, and bring food to the corals.

Don

 

[Scooterman]

Hydor Koralia Evolution Circulation Pump/Powerhead 550gph ot the next one up, $35 YOU WILL LOVE IT! Just check the physical sizes to make sure it is ok with what you expect.





Hydor Koralia Evolution Circulation Pump/Powerhead

 

[bodycology21]

I use four hydor koralia 750 with a wavemaker on a 75g. All the things you mentioned are good results from having plenty of flow through your tank. When you decide what you want to go with and add them slowly. I had two going then added two more and I really stressed out my livestock for a few days. Until they got used to it.

 

[Gort]

I've been considering the Koralia - either Nona or Evolution.. but FOUR 750's?? That is indeed a lot of flow amigo.

Scooty - the 550 almost seems like a better "price per gallon" but I'll need to check out dimensions...

 

[Scooterman]

I have the 550, it was in my 12g but too big but the flow was good. I will buy the smaller nano units.

 

[Krish]

I had almost 4,000 gph in a 38 gal. Can't ever get enough flow!

 

[NWDiver]

All the above
I'm running 4 koralia Evo 1400s in my 120Gal. Pretty good pumps overall. I have to clean them more often than I think they should need, but you sure can't beat the price.

 

[GoCougsKev]

I had almost 4,000 gph in a 38 gal. Can't ever get enough flow!

In my experience there can be too much flow. If I max out my pumps to about 14,000 gph in my 120, it is too much flow. The fish don't seem to care for it, the sand blows around too much and my corals do not seem to be as happy. My tank seems to do better when I cycle the pumps between 20-60% of their capacity with a strong but moderate flow.

 

[Krish]

In my experience there can be too much flow. If I max out my pumps to about 14,000 gph in my 120, it is too much flow. The fish don't seem to care for it, the sand blows around too much and my corals do not seem to be as happy. My tank seems to do better when I cycle the pumps between 20-60% of their capacity with a strong but moderate flow.

I can see where too much flow can be a problem sometimes especially for those that run sand beds. I never run sand beds so that's one less thing I have to worry about. With the 4,000 gph in that 38 gal the fish and corals love it! It's all about distribution and placement as well though as that flow was split up between 9 outputs. 1 was for the return (950 gph before headloss) and then I had 2 closed loops (1500 gph each). Each closed loop had 2 outputs that were split with lockline "Y"'s making it 4 outputs I could direct flow individually for each closed loop for a total of 8. Had I blasted all of that out of less outputs, it may have been too much for the fish, but with it split like I had it, they loved it!

On a side not, when I said, "Can't ever get enough flow!" I was talking about me personally. Everyone here knows I'm a flow junkie

 

[Gort]

The Solana has a multi-flexible "Y" return pump output which I've been experimenting with. The legs can be shortened or expended plus swiveled to point most anywhere. Hopefully this will expand the flow possibilities and I can get away with a single additional powerhead to begin with.

 

[Krish]

The Solana has a multi-flexible "Y" return pump output which I've been experimenting with. The legs can be shortened or expended plus swiveled to point most anywhere. Hopefully this will expand the flow possibilities and I can get away with a single additional powerhead to begin with.

Yea, your main concern with flow is to make sure you don't have any deadspots where waste can settle and rott. You want to be able to keep detritus/waste etc in the water column where it can be "filtered' out. Also, food has to be taken to corals as they can't move around like fish to search for their own so this is another reason why you need good coverage. A good test is to drop something like a small pinch of flakes in the tank and observe where the flow takes it. Sometimes this can help you figure out which areas need the extra flow etc.

 

[Gort]

Yea, your main concern with flow is to make sure you don't have any deadspots where waste can settle and rott. You want to be able to keep detritus/waste etc in the water column where it can be "filtered' out. Also, food has to be taken to corals as they can't move around like fish to search for their own so this is another reason why you need good coverage. A good test is to drop something like a small pinch of flakes in the tank and observe where the flow takes it. Sometimes this can help you figure out which areas need the extra flow etc.

At present - with no in-tank-powerhead installed yet - there are a couple dead spots where uneaten 'sinking pellets' settle out. I've been removing them with a turkey baster. Now that I'm seeing the first diatom bloom, I'm looking to add a CUC. Going forward; I expect the janitors will rid the sandbed of much of that stuff.

 

[Krish]

Keep in mind that tank janitors poop as well so the will remove some waste and add some as well. If you have a shallow sand bed then you will want to keep that vacuumed as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gort]

Keep in mind that tank janitors poop as well so the will remove some waste and add some as well. If you have a shallow sand bed then you will want to keep that vacuumed as well.

I'll keep that in mind - thanx.