Power Head Aiming

[jamesonwhiskey]

I have 3 powerheads (2 small and 1 large-don't have model #s/flow rates on me) in my setup (54g corner bow-quarter round). Right now I have 1 small on each side of the tank pointing towards the center and slightly downward. On the right I also have the larger one pointing more towards the front glass and slightly upwards.

I've heard/read it's best to point them up towards the surface (maybe just to give water/light moving effect?) but also to point to the front of the glass. Can someone tell me the best way to position them in my style tank or how my water should be flowing?

I did try searching on here but I got almost all unrelated threads (makes sense as we're all talking about water I guess).

 

[THEDLO]

lol i have mine pointed straight and slightly right...lol i not know if that made sense....but thats how they are on both sides, and the water by the glass is moved around by my return spigots? u can see a better example in the first part of my tank video u have to pause it right away tho..

 

[KathyC]

The purpose of pointing at least one of them toward the surface of the water is to aid in oxygen exchange. The carbon dioxide created in your tank needs to escape and actually cannot break through the surface of the water easily on its own..so the surface needs to be 'disturbed'.
Additonally that disturbance allows oxygen to enter the water, which is absolutely essential to the living animals in your tank.
Certainly not just for show!!

Your placement sounds ok, though you might want to point the one you have that is aiming toward the front of the tank -up a little so that you clearly have a disturbance on the surface - without it making a big wave along that panel.
(Since I don't know what power heads you have this is kind of hard to tell you what exactly to do..lol)

If that doesn't work, you might point the ones on opposite sides a little higher (but directly at each other) as that will also disturb the surface and create a fair amount of flow within the tank (which is also important!) that will keep detritus in suspension in your water so that your skimmer (or filter) can remove it.

Any of that make sense to you?

Posting a pic of what the water surface looks like after you make the changes would also be helpful.

 

[wayne]

basically you would want to create a flow in the areas that is stagnant to remove all uneaten food and poop from the tank the longer those stuff remains in the tank the more your water parameters tend to go off and in return creating bad algae and things like that..

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

Good points... I am going to point one of the smaller ones more towards the surface but I have a question. For oxygen exchange do I want aim it so the water is wavy, or to actually splash on the surface? Seems like splashing it would be messy.

Would it be best to keep my top open or to take the cover off my sump for air exchange? My sump is in a wooden cabinet with door.

 

[KathyC]

Good points... I am going to point one of the smaller ones more towards the surface but I have a question. For oxygen exchange do I want aim it so the water is wavy, or to actually splash on the surface? Seems like splashing it would be messy.

Would it be best to keep my top open or to take the cover off my sump for air exchange? My sump is in a wooden cabinet with door.

Wavy is fine.
The top of the tank should be open to the air. Is it covered, if so, with what? Many here use a mesh cover so they don't need to worry about fish carpet surfing, can allow all of the light in, and have no issue with proper oxygen exhange.

The sump door can stay closed. You have a cover on your sump?? Must not have a ton of equipment sticking out the top of it like the rest of us do ..lol

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

It's covered with the glass lid where the front portion folds back to open... the back corner is somewhat open as I leave a gap in the plastic corner cover piece. The 54g gallon corner bow uses the same lid as a 36g regular bow, it makes up for the difference in size with plastic corners that the lid rests on.

I've left the lid open in the front now and pointed one of the powerheads slighty up to make the water wavy.

My sump is one of the enclosed ones that comes with the blue bio-balls which I threw out. My carbon and phosban media is in filter bags on that shelf... my skimmer hangs off the side and I drilled the pump and return pipes through the lid... heater, UV sterilizer and return pump all contained within sump.

I really gotta add some pics to my profile so you know what I mean.

 

[jamesonwhiskey]

Opening my lid has made more corals open more so it seems I was cutting their oxygen supply.

Instead of keeping my lid open, could I keep it closed and put an air stone or something similar in my sump? Would it have the same effect as keeping the lid open? I've heard you should not put air stones in reef aquariums.