Powerhead Question

[1fast300z]

Hello all,
I have a 125 with a huge stars and stripes puffer fish. Other than that All I have at the moment is about 65 lbs of Live Rock. My nitrates have been rather high, I only had one maxi-jet inside the aquarium for waterflow and began noticing a lot of waste and left over food build up on the top of the sand bed. I just put in two Powersweep powerheads (270gph each). One on each end of the tank. I also have two maxijet-1200's (295gph each). My concern is did I go overboard? Could there be to much water current that could lead to my puffer being stressed? I noticed him laying in the corner which is common, but he seemed to keep flapping his fins to try to keep himself in a stable position because of the powersweep jet right by him. Any advice on where to position the powerheads? Thanks.
-Peter

 

[teen]

for a 125gal, that isnt that much flow. id be more worried about getting your nitrates down.

 

[1fast300z]

Yeah trust me I am. I just bought the Coralife 220, plus I have a seaclone 150 (but it sucks). I have both skimmers running. I also bought some plants from the LFS to throw in my wet/dry. What about the filter pads? Does it matter what type I get. I just have a thin sponge pad in the wet/dry before the water hits the bio-balls. Then there is a sponge block before the return pump. Any advice on lowering the nitrates would be great.

 

[teen]

when you do a water change, use the water your changing out of the tank to rinse out all those filter pads and the bioballs. if not taken care of properly the bioballs can cause more harm than good. if you maintain them good, theyll work out fine.

 

[paulcoates]

You really need to work on your flow. You should have at least a 20x turnover rate.
125*20=2500 GPH
Seaclone = 150 GPH
Corallife = 220 GPH
Maxijets = 590 GPH (for 2)
Powersweep = 500 GPH (for 2)
That's a total of 1460 GPH without knowing how much your filter is recirculating.
You really need to, at a minimum double the number of powerheads you have. Either that or get more powerful ones. If you get the flow going, your filter can get some of those nitrates out of your tank by circulating them. The dead spots in your tank are likley causing your nitrate buildup.
Get more powerheads, place them properly, do some water changes and your water will greatly improve

 

[fbm]

coralife is 500 and somthing per hour, but I wouldn't count either of the skimmers as flow because it really doesn't do much inside the tank as far as current is involed.

 

[fbm]

also seaclone 150 still uses a mj1200 so it is 290 or so.

 

[paulcoates]

Originally Posted by fbm
coralife is 500 and somthing per hour, but I wouldn't count either of the skimmers as flow because it really doesn't do much inside the tank as far as current is involed.

The idea of flow is to move nutrients through the water and crap out of the water, so in my estimation it should be included.

 

[paulcoates]

Originally Posted by fbm
also seaclone 150 still uses a mj1200 so it is 290 or so.
you are still on the low end in my opinion
125*20=2500 GPH
Seaclone = 290 GPH
Corallife = 500 GPH
Maxijets = 590 GPH (for 2)
Powersweep = 500 GPH (for 2)
1790 total or 15x turnover rate
If you take out the 2 Skimmers then you are sitting at 1090 GPH. That is about 8.5 tournover rate

 

[fbm]

Originally Posted by paulcoates
The idea of flow is to move nutrients through the water and crap out of the water, so in my estimation it should be included.

Really? I thought flow was to help circulate a tank. How does a hang on skimmer push water through the tank when it sucks and discharges withing inches of itself usually? Turn off all your powerheads in your tank and just leave the skimmer on, wait 5 minutes, now go to the other end of your tank and add calcium or something that you can see. Does that circulate through your tank? Not in mine it didn't it just kind of dispersed. This is why I say they shouldn't count. Because they really don't add any circulation whatsoever. They realy on other means of circulation to get dirty water to them. Just my opinion but try it and maybe your will change as well.

 

[fbm]

Flow is also important for fish healths as well. It adds in helping keep fish fit and trim. They are use to a current, there is always current in the ocean in some form or another where most of our fish come from.

 

[1fast300z]

Damn thanks for all the great responses guys. I added some plants to my wet/dry hopefully that will help with the nitrates as well. As for the return pump I have a mag12 (1200gph). I am going to buy 2 more powerheads for sure.

 

[paulcoates]

Originally Posted by fbm
Really? I thought flow was to help circulate a tank. How does a hang on skimmer push water through the tank when it sucks and discharges withing inches of itself usually? Turn off all your powerheads in your tank and just leave the skimmer on, wait 5 minutes, now go to the other end of your tank and add calcium or something that you can see. Does that circulate through your tank? Not in mine it didn't it just kind of dispersed. This is why I say they shouldn't count. Because they really don't add any circulation whatsoever. They realy on other means of circulation to get dirty water to them. Just my opinion but try it and maybe your will change as well.

It does pull water into it so it does circulate water. In my opinion, flow is sweeping nutrients around the tank and also so the skimmer can pull that water in and clean it.
I understand what you are saying, but at the same time if you turn all of the powerheads, filters and skimmers off in your tank, you have 0 GPH moved. If you turn the skimmer on your are getting some GPH turnover in your tank.
Just my .02 cents