How many Powerheads?

[woody189]

Hi.
I have a 46 gal tank and I'm just starting out w/ corals. Corals have different needs in terms of flow, and I'm trying to figure out how you accommodate them.
1st of all, you aren't supposed to have any dead spots. To accomplish that, I would think you need 2 PH's pointed at the sand, 1 in fornt of the rock, and 1 behind.
Now you need flow hitting the rock so the corals are happy. Assuming you have mostly corals that require moderate to high flow, than you need at least 2 more PH's pointed at the rock to keep them happy (assuming they aren't right next to eachother).
Thats 4 Ph's in a 46 gal tank, at least. Is that normal?
I know I can turkey baste the sand and stuff, but I don't get what other ppl do.
Also, do you just place a PH, and feel how strong the flow is w/ your hand to determine whether it would be high, moderate, or low flow? I'm not sure what would be considered high, low, etc.
Dumb ?'s probably, but I'm lost.
Thanks.

 

[salt210]

you dont want a PH aimed directly at the sand. it will just cause it to blow everywhere. some people put one on each end of the tank and aimed them at each other and this works for them.
as for the amount of flow. a 1200gph PH might be high flow in your tank but not mine, does that make sense? when determining the flow look at how many times it turns the water over in the tank.

 

[woody189]

Originally Posted by salt210
http:///forum/post/3037365
you dont want a PH aimed directly at the sand. it will just cause it to blow everywhere. some people put one on each end of the tank and aimed them at each other and this works for them.
Oh yea, I know. Just aimed at the sand enough so it skims the surface and picks up the junk that's accumulated. That's acutally what I got going on now, two ph's pointed at e/o. But there is no flow behind the rock.
That will mean a 3rd or 4th PH, just for the sand.
I'm not too worried about GPH turnover. I think I'm good in that department, especially once I get some more PH's.

 

[salt210]

what PHs are you using? instead of adding a lot of them to the tank get some stronger ones, so the tank isnt clustered from them.

 

[woody189]

Originally Posted by salt210
http:///forum/post/3037370
what PHs are you using? instead of adding a lot of them to the tank get some stronger ones, so the tank isnt clustered from them.
See that's the thing. Right now I have 3 (that are smaller than they should be)
I have two 320+ gph PH's, and one 125 gph (approximate Gph's).
I'm going to get a strong koralia, maybe 800GPH, but even then my problem won't be solved. I'll have to make a descision, point it towards the sand, or at the rock. Even if I have 2 I'm going to either have dead spots, or not have enough flow on my rock.
Thanks for the helpBTW.

 

[sk8shorty01]

The best thing about a Koralia is that you can take the directional flow director off and it will disperse a very wide area of flow. If you had one of those on each side of the tank you should have flow in just about every area of the tank. That is what I have in my 220 and with the returns on there as well I have no problems.

 

[brokendeck]

Yea, go get you a Koralia 2. A Koralia 3 might be to strong for your tank size.

 

[reice05]

I need some powerheads too im trying to figure what size i should get. i got a 75g drilled corner overflow with a ASM g3 skimmer. im definetly goin the koralia route but undecided on what size to get

 

[a7xsynx42]

i have a 45 gal tank. that's about 48" long and i have 2 koralia 2s on opposite sides. one of them has the directional flow and the other doesn't. i usually switch where i point them every week. they're about 3/4 of the way up my tank. when they're pointed at eachother i have NO noticable dead spots in my tank. even with LR and corals.
i hope this helps a little

 

[woody189]

Thanks. I think that's what I'll do. Get 2 strong Ph's, and maybe 1 of my old ones to skim the sand a bit.
Thanks.

 

[canareef]

Originally Posted by a7xsynx42
http:///forum/post/3037706
i have a 45 gal tank. that's about 48" long and i have 2 koralia 2s on opposite sides. one of them has the directional flow and the other doesn't. i usually switch where i point them every week. they're about 3/4 of the way up my tank. when they're pointed at eachother i have NO noticable dead spots in my tank. even with LR and corals.
i hope this helps a little
I run 2 Koralia 2's in my 33G the same setup as a7's picture the top one is pointed at the water surface wich keeps the protein from building up since I only run a canister. The second PH is 4 inches off the bottom and aimed at the rocks so I don't move the sand around. This setup makes alot of flow but I'm dabbling into SPS so I need the higher flow.

 

[d-man]

I am going to put about 1600gph in my 35 (1300 right at a rock with tons of holes in it) we'll see if the sand flys or not (I want sps)