What Powerheads and Where to put them?

[ashleigh234]

My new skimmer has just arrived, so next step is looking at getting powerheads for my current set up.
I have a 90gal 4ft tank with 8 fish and a few corals, looking to expand on the corals as time goes on.
My question now is what size powerheads (and brand? Koralia?) and how many would be good for my tank?
I may have an issue though as I have very fine sand, and when I switch the return pump off, and then put it back on it causes a bit of the sand to get into the water column ... not sure if this would happen constantly when running powerheads?
I also dont like the look of them in the tank, are there any cheapish small ones that would be suitable? And can they be placed say at the back down the bottom of the tank pointing up to keep them out of view?

 

[wangotango]

I like my Tunze Nanostreams. They've got good flow in a pretty small package, but they're expensive.
Two Koralia #3s would proabably be enough. Put them in the top-back corners pointing at an angle towards the front, I wouldn't put them behind or under rock though. You're going to want to be able to get to them for cleaning and restarting them manually if needed. It's also nice to have surface agitation.
-Justin

 

[ashleigh234]

I have 3 outlets on my Return pump going into the tank at the moment, and I have one of these creating a little surface agitation so thats ok.
If I put them up the top back corners, I know this is the most common place, but I have very fine sand and I dont want a constant sandstorm, and i dont want to get rid of the sand preferrably, its so pretty
Its not too big of an issue having to put my hands in the tank, its 18" deep so not a major, I would rather do that than have them visible, and have a sandstorm.
Is there any downsides that can have an effect on placing two in the bottom corners at the back pointing up and kinda towards the front. I have the outlets for the return blowing towards the front and they seem to do an ok job there.