Advice on Flow rates and powerheads

[Shaemus]

I was wondering what should be the flow rates for having acropora corals and if they need to be directly in the current of the powerhead or off to the side.
What do you recommend for quality powerheads and how many and if it helps i have a 54 gal tank.

Sincerely,

Shaemus Mullaney

 

[Old Man Of The Sea]

If your the SPS corals which demand stronger lights, you also need stronger currents then anything you ever done, but not directly on the corals> Do watch out not to not over kill with it for your a small tank

 

[trido]

Yep, SPS need more flow than anything else. 30-50X turnover of flow in the tank is the General consesus lately. 20X minimum. If you have a 100G tank, then from 3-5 thousand gallons an hour of pumps is good. Yes, thousands of gallons. I have near 5000GPH in my tank and would like more..

Do not directly blast any coral with a power head. In most cases they really dont like it.
Maxi jet makes a reliable inexpensive powerhead. Seio makes a good med. priced powerhead with med. flow. Tunze makes a nice powerhead with alot of flow. And there is a new tunze type inexpensive powerhead called Hydor Corallia.

 

[cindre2000]

Also, there is a big difference in the type of flow. It would be best if you could get surging flow, however, random chaotic flow is decent. You want as little "fire hose" flow as possible. A lot of the cheaper powerheads will just give you a tight high velocity stream; this is not good flow. You want wide dispersed flow- Seio, Tunze, and Hydor Koralia do this. The Maxi-Jet mod also does this.

 

[Shaemus]

having 30-50X turnover of flow in the tank, would that be too much for fish and invertebrates(shrimp and hermit crabs) to swim or it wouldn't bother them. the fish i'm planning to put in are a 1x bicolor angel, 2x teardrop O. clown (hopefully paired), and 1x green goby.

 

[Anonymous]

I have close to 70x turnover in my tank.
I think my fish really enjoy it (though some species probably wouldn't)
The invertebrates are fine too.

That much flow would be too much for a lot of LPS corals and a lot of softies, but for fish and SPS its great.

 

[trido]

Keep in mind,

You want as little "fire hose" flow as possible

In most cases, its about volume, not velocity. A little velocity hear and there is good too though.

 

[SnowManSnow]

righto...

MJ mods work well .. I hear...

also i've had first hand exp. with the Tunze Streams.. actually TOOOOO much flow for my tank so i sold it... they are simply the best IMO

some have liked Seo pumps, but they have mixed reviews.

HIGH flow, lower velocity.... WIDE water column movement is what you want to shoot for.

 

[mr_X]

i vote hydor koralia, for cheap but powerful, dispersed flow. :wink:
they are alittle on the large side though.....

 

[IslandCrow]

I'm a big fan of the Hydor as well, especially for the price. It spreads the flow out much better than the Maxijets. It's basically the commercial version of the Maxijet mod, and probably not much more expensive than doing it yourself. Now, this is only my personal opinion, and I only have a little over two years in the hobby, so I'm still a newbie but. . .I think the 10x, 20x, 50x, etc. turnover rule of thumb has one flaw. It doesn't take into account that the physical objects in the aquarium like rocks and corals have a very significant impact on your flow. The mores "stuff" you have in your tank, the more turnover you're going to need to get the same water flow across your tank. When I first set up my 46g tank, one Maxijet 1200 at 295 gph was about all I could use without kicking up a sandstorm. Now, I'm easily turning over 1500 gph, and I could probably use a little more.