Clarification needed

[cyslyde]

I have had my 29 gal set up for a month and a half. A budy of mine set it up for me. until now i have been using a over the back whisper filter. my budy says i should get a small power head to start. but the shop I have been dealing with for product told me i need a 295 gph Maxi-Jet powerhead.... this seems really powerful for such a small tank. Who should i trust?
Thanx
-=CY

 

[ironreef]

when I had my 55g I had 5 maxijets and a sump that had 10x turn over. In a reef tank you want min 10x turn over depending on your corals. in fo set up you still need good current. It won't be to much. You can get the maxi1000 or 900 if you think it is but sw need alot of current. I have over 2400gph pumping through my 120g reef through various returns = seaswirl, flex nozzel ect..

 

[cyslyde]

ok... thank you for your help.

 

[von_rahvin]

10x is a litle overdoing it. but 6x would be more than fine. I am guesing you are talking about water circulations per hour right? i use 6 of the maxi 1200 in my 135 reef

 

[ironreef]

more aeriation = better if its in a reef/ they say to mimci the reef you would have to have 300x+ turnover. I've ran 5x -10 and find 20+ my corals are better/happier. In a fo i would go atleast 5x but it depends on your fish some come from high current. I wouls still go 10x. My fish seem to love the high current.= it doesn't blast which you don't want but its random all over

 

[thor]

ok just to make sure i have a 600 in my 58g is this too much?

 

[mark-24]

Wouldn't someone think it would be better to have a higher turn over in a fo than a reef? Because the fish use O2 and exhale CO2 more so than a coral. Think of it like this, sit in a chair and hold your breath and time it (roughly doesn't have to be exact), and see how long you can go. Then stand up, hold you breath, time yourself, and slowly walk in a straight line or a circle or whatever until you need to take a breath. The time of you sitting is much longer than you walking. Because your muscles need oxygen to move, but when sitting, you don't move your muscles and hense they don't need as much O2. Also, the Zooanthelle is photosynthetic, so it would need more CO2 in the tank so it can photosyenthies. Any algeas, coral, and clams are photosyenthetic. But needless to say, a higher turn over rate is very good in any tank, I'm just curious as to why.
-Mark
[ December 25, 2001: Message edited by: Mark-24 ]

 

[ironreef]

I agree high turn over is good. But fish can do with less than most corals. SPS corals need alot of water movement as well as other braching corals. Thats how they evolved. Fish can get by with lesss but a good rule of thumb is 10x turnover mine IME. But you can have 2-5 x turn over in a sump and have powerhead and/or a close loop and add 10x more. It doesn't have to come from one source.