power heads
- Thread starter ded08221
- Start date
I believe your powerheads are numbered so because of their "gph", or gallons per hour. For a fish only, I would say that thats probably a bit of overkill. For a reef, though, in a 55, I would say that those two flow outputs in their direct, laminar flow form are pretty much too strong for most corals, directly speaking.
When you do your reef tank-setup, work on diverting and varying/oscillating the flow of those two power heads to create more turbulent, rythmic motion in the tank, like wavemakers and flow diverters/switches. www.liveaquaria.com has great stuff in that department; do a search on "water movement" or "wavemakers".
800 gph and 301 gph is a lot of flow just straight up, even if its shooting against a pane of glass: if you dont want to dump cash into a wavemaker (even that 45$ power-strip one), go to a plumbing store and get some y or tri-y diverters and some clear tubing and some appropiate suction cup holder/things, and play with pointing the flow around to make the best flow and turbulence characteristics possible. Remember these two things about water flow, especially in a reef: adequate flow means low algae problem factor, and, depending on how you ppick and arrange your corals, adequate flow keeps every coral healthy and makes an awesome scene/show!
[/url]
When you do your reef tank-setup, work on diverting and varying/oscillating the flow of those two power heads to create more turbulent, rythmic motion in the tank, like wavemakers and flow diverters/switches. www.liveaquaria.com has great stuff in that department; do a search on "water movement" or "wavemakers".
800 gph and 301 gph is a lot of flow just straight up, even if its shooting against a pane of glass: if you dont want to dump cash into a wavemaker (even that 45$ power-strip one), go to a plumbing store and get some y or tri-y diverters and some clear tubing and some appropiate suction cup holder/things, and play with pointing the flow around to make the best flow and turbulence characteristics possible. Remember these two things about water flow, especially in a reef: adequate flow means low algae problem factor, and, depending on how you ppick and arrange your corals, adequate flow keeps every coral healthy and makes an awesome scene/show!
[/url]
oh yeah; pretty much perfect flow characteristics, if you divide it up or find ways to make indirect turbulence in the flow patterns, to most closely simulate natural mater motion in the sea. 
yeah, I think ricky1414 is right on with gallons per hour on the two powerheads you mentioned, since I guessed they were Hagen powerheads in the first place, with those numbers you gave. I didnt mention the actual gph cause I dont really recall those two models.
yeah, I think ricky1414 is right on with gallons per hour on the two powerheads you mentioned, since I guessed they were Hagen powerheads in the first place, with those numbers you gave. I didnt mention the actual gph cause I dont really recall those two models.
I would definitely split up the flow, and work on simulating some surge action, to better simulate what happens in nature, for happy corals. :lol:
400 gph is way to much direct, laminar flow for any coral, in my opinion.
ricky1414, where did you get that mouse-thing that holds the sign? Is all the stuff on that sign ocrrect or just a guess about my IP and connection status? Thats crazy!!!
400 gph is way to much direct, laminar flow for any coral, in my opinion.
ricky1414, where did you get that mouse-thing that holds the sign? Is all the stuff on that sign ocrrect or just a guess about my IP and connection status? Thats crazy!!!
I have 1500+ GPH of flow in a 50 gallon reef and I'm trying to figure out how to get more!
There's no such thing as too much flow IMO - just too much flow velocity.
With powerheads, the flow velocity issue is easily avoided - just don't aim it directly at your corals. You could also bank the flow off of the glass, rockwork or use diffusers/dividers on outlets, spraybars, etc.
There's no such thing as too much flow IMO - just too much flow velocity.
With powerheads, the flow velocity issue is easily avoided - just don't aim it directly at your corals. You could also bank the flow off of the glass, rockwork or use diffusers/dividers on outlets, spraybars, etc.
yes, that is what I meant to say... I think the more flow you can divert and oscillate, the better, too. I mean, in nature, it can get pretty fierce, in terms of reefs and water motion characteristics. I also think that banking is a good way to make laminar more "eco-like" and invert/fish friendly. My tank is a science project, basically, and a hobby as well: I want to simulate nature as best I can, for multiple reasons.
By the way, has anyone ever heard of a Carlson surge-simulating siphon-device-thingamajigger? I heard that it simulates surge THE most realistically, by using a siphon in a sort of tube or pot-thing above the aquarium water level... Anyone know of such a thing?
I made a Carleson Surge device and it works awesome. cheap too. consists of some plastic tubes and a bucket, you can get it all at Home Depot. 3 things to consider, 1. make the joints tight or else you'll get a venturi effect via the seams and then the surge is loaded with bubbles. my surge is always loaded with bubbles because I'm running the surge in a 'rough in' state i.e. I haven't glued the thing together however I think heavy oxygen saturation can't be a bad thing. 2. if you pump out of your sump to fill the surge vessel you risk running your pump dry if your sump level is too low. 3. depending on the size of your surge vessel, your main tank level may drop low before the surge and your overflow or siphon overflow may not be able to handle a massive quantity of water all at once. it's worth the experimenting with, but hard to conceal as it has to be above the tank. strong pump needed if the surge vessel is way above the tank.
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
