Powerhead Q...

[kingfish8302]

I have two maxijet power heads but i'm thinking out changing them out.
Here is the question:
Should i keep what i have or go with 2 Hydor Koralias/or somthing els and tell me your reason why i should change or keep what i have now?
Thanks

 

[rcoultas]

the answer depends on a few things: what do you keep in the tank? What size is it? Are you on a limited budget?
I have recently switched one of my tanks to koralia and the effectiveness of these PH is impressive IMO.

 

[kingfish8302]

its a 46g bow front and i keep some sps , shrooms, and zoos and a clame. There is about $80 limit for my budget.

 

[rcoultas]

you could try one koralia 2 at one side of the tank and keep the maxi jets at the other end - the koralia impellor makes a wide area flow and also creates a fair amount of turbulence. That going up against the two maxi jets should give you plenty of flow in a 46. You may even put one maxi down low aimed upward and the other up high aimed front and center. The koralia would then be best placed high with a front and center direction. HTH

 

[kingfish8302]

I see i was thinking about that. right now i have one maxjet (left side of tank) pointed up for surface action and the other maxijet (right side of tank) pointed a little down for flow across the tank. Almost my return from my fluval 404 point to the front of the tank.
I was thinking about adding the koralia 2 on the left side for wider flow movement towards my corals. Would that flow pattern from the koralia 2 hurt my corals?

 

[rcoultas]

That depends on the types of corals - it will not really "hurt" them but it will make them unhappy if the flow is too strong. In that case you could redirect the flow or make other changes like moving rocks and corals until you come up with the ideal placements. Typically PH's are not pointed at corals but at the glass - the cross directional flows will cause more turbulence and emulate a reef environment.

 

[kingfish8302]

no i was going to have the flow direction a little off instead of point right at them.

 

[kingfish8302]

if i get a koralia 2 that would make my flow around 27x.... is that to much flow? If i get a koralia 1 it would bring my flow around 20x

 

[rcoultas]

some would argue that both ways - again it will depend on the types of corals and their requirements - 20x is a good flow rate IMO - 27x is pretty strong

 

[kingfish8302]

i'll try to keep it around 20X.. Thanks