which korallia

[1guydude]

So i need to push water 4ft... i have a 75g penninsula tank and im working on the flow in it... right now i have two 1400 evos on a smart wave. Id like to add a 3rd powerhead to run all the time. I was thinking something like a mag7 or 6....wondering wat ur ppls personal or on hand exp is with em. Would a mag 6 or 7 push it to much?> Just looking for some advice before my purchase.
thxs
-d

 

[1guydude]

anyone? These things are $100 so if any1 has input that would be great... i dont want to push the water out of my tank and on the floor!

 

[TJL]

I'd think that a Mag 6 or 7 would be too much for that size tank.. I ran two K4's top with a 2 & 3 below and behind rockwork setup in a gyre on my old 75g. This seemed to be plenty enough flow til SPS outgrew the system.

Cheers, Todd

 

[1guydude]

my two evos kick on every 30min about... both are lower and pointing down the tank long ways. I was thinking i could run a magnum powerhead full time well these ones click on and off. Would it be better to just get a larger return pump?
thxs
-d

 

[reefman069]

i would go with a bigger return pump. put a ball valve on it so you can turn it down if its too much flow. mag drive pumps are all i use for my returns.

 

[colin779]

I only have a 750gph pump for my return on my 90. You don't want a ton of flow through there because that takes away from the time you skimmer has to process the water. As for to much flow, I think you'd be alright. Do you have a sand bed? My tank is bare bottom, I have 4 of the 1050gph evolutions (wish I had gotten the 1400's) and will be adding a mp40 to my system. I will probably pull two of the evolutions at that time though mostly because I don't like the look of them.

 

[Skimmy]

personally i think wave makers are retarded....
there is proof actually that random/chaotic flow is not nearly as beneficial as
a steady, continuous laminar gyre.
so my advice is to leave ALL powerheads on maximum the entire time.
now if you wanted to buy twice as many powerheads and set up on a wave maker
to change the direction of the laminar gyre then great, but otherwise ditch your wavemaker.
and as far as target numbers of total flow for your tank, i would follow the 50x rule for a mixed reef
which would put you at 3750 gph of flow.
mag pumps are trash... they run hot enough to heat your tank and the extra heat will fry the pump early...
get an eheim if you need to upgrade your return pump. but if your return pump is already pushing 3x to 5x
then leave it alone.

 

[1guydude]

@skimmy
I was gonna put both 1400s on one side and the new larger powerhead on one side running cont.
Those two would pulse every six hrs and change it up a bit.

I do rather enjoy the laminar flow to the pulsing yes!

Right now i just turned the timing down so low that they kick on every like 30sec.... not to loud but im sure it will shorten their lives!
Good to know about the magnum models too THXS!
My return it a 1587 ecotech or ecosmart or something another... i bought pond pumps. The other is a no name 500gph on a 120g DT LOL

 

[1guydude]

my 75 penninsula is a BB tank.

 

[Maxx]

personally i think wave makers are retarded....
there is proof actually that random/chaotic flow is not nearly as beneficial as
a steady, continuous laminar gyre.so my advice is to leave ALL powerheads on maximum the entire time.
now if you wanted to buy twice as many powerheads and set up on a wave maker
to change the direction of the laminar gyre then great, but otherwise ditch your wavemaker.
and as far as target numbers of total flow for your tank, i would follow the 50x rule for a mixed reef
which would put you at 3750 gph of flow.
mag pumps are trash... they run hot enough to heat your tank and the extra heat will fry the pump early...
get an eheim if you need to upgrade your return pump. but if your return pump is already pushing 3x to 5x
then leave it alone.

Hey Mark,
Do you have a link to that proof?
Not calling you out, but I'd like to read up on it.

Nick

 

[colin779]

As someone who has struggled with powerhead placement i would also love to read that! =)

 

[1guydude]

+1 link would b great skimmy... i didnt have time to google yesterday.

 

[Skimmy]

yes, i can try to find it... it was jake adams college thesis on fluid dynamics and coral growth, and i think the article is on RB
also, some of you may remember he came and gave a talk at a PSAS meeting a few years back on flow for corals,
his presentation contained the info as well.