Will This ever stop???

[kingspade]

will my sand EVER stop blowing??? i move my powerheads everyday, and each position is worse than the last, its getting very old, i am down to bare glass in the center. im about to switch back to crused coral. someone please tell me this is going to stop. and what i can put in the center to keep some sand there like maybe if i put some live rock there or something? also the sand is all over my live rock

 

[bonebrake]

This is a little trick I did to clear up the fine sand in the water column. I placed two pantyhose over the jet of a powerhead and nothing over the intake. I left it on for 24 hours and then carefully added a large bowl to the tank to take that powerhead and pantyhose combination out without releasing the sand back into the water column. It completely cleared my water of the fine silt that never settles or at least takes a very long time to do so. All of this could have been avoided had I washed the sand before I put it in the tank. I hope this helps.
:joy:
P.S. - Use a turkey baster to blow the sand off of your rocks.

 

[fishieness]

yup. thatll happen when you have 4 tunzes

have you tried turning the flow down? or are they on a wave maker? how big is the tank and how large are the powerheads?

 

[kingspade]

they arent tunzes, they are seio 1500's, and the tank is a 125, and the pantyhose thing wont work, its not a settling problem its a blowing problem, the sand keeps gtting blown around from the flow in the tank, even with only 2 of the 4 powerheads it still is an issue

 

[fishieness]

what about your return pumps? if im looking at the right thing, it appears that they are blowing right in the center?

 

[kingspade]

nope, its the powerheads, return water doesnt have all that much power

 

[murph145]

looks like ur sand is too fine for the amopunt of flow u have in your tank....
u can
1 break down the tank and remove all sand and add a heavier sand
2 try to turn down the Seios that u currently have
3 sell those seios and go for the 820's or 1100's
4 go bare bottom
either way u just have too much flow in that tank with the fine sand u have in it...
i mean thats 6000gph of flow with just the seios
thats 48x's turnover alone! way to much for a tank with a sand bottom
id down size the seios u got right now and do the 820's thats still over 25x's turnover in that tank pleanty if used correctly to keep all corals happy

 

[murph145]

oh and while lookin at the photo looks like all the current run into each other in the center of the tank causing a whirlpool effect and thats why ur sand is blowing away from the center down to the glass

 

[kingspade]

should i do 4 820's, or 2 820's and 2 1500's?

 

[havunen191]

What are you running for a return? Also agree with Murph 1500's are way to much power in a 125. I have a 180 running mag 1800 on return, 1 1500 Seio and 2x 1200 rio's with hydors. Gives me about 21 times turnover.

 

[kingspade]

i have a mag18 for a return. i just turned my seios down to low and it seems they are not pushing the sand off the bottom anymore. i just wish i knew how many GPH they push when on low, if anyone knows please let me know. like murph said i had 6000gph with all 4 on high whick put me at 48x turnover without the return, so on low id GUESS that the 1500 gph for each would be cut in half so figure 750gph times 4= 3000gph that puts me at 24 then add the 1100-1200 from my return, i am getting an estimated 33.2x turnover. so i guess i should still be good on flow. what do you think? like i said this is an estimated figure since i dont know exactly what the powerheads do on low nor do i know the exact amount of flow comming from my returns.

 

[murph145]

i would do the 820s they only do 18W compared to the 1500's that do 34W and when turned down they still use that elec up and take up more space but dont do as much as they could be doing...
im not sure how much they put out when lowered id say half way from open to closed would be 750gph
like i said if u can exchange for the 820s if u wanna do 4 of them ull save $ on the elec bill

 

[hurt]

I have to respectfully disagree that 46X turnover is too much for a tank with a sand bottom-unless you have oolitic sand, then I would agree. I have 47X turnover in my 55g with a 3 inch sandbed(fiji pink) with no problems at all. I would try and am the powerheads more towards the surface. You can place them towards the middle to bottom as long as you aim them up. And like Murph said, you can turn the flow down easily with the Seio's to about half the max. If this doesn't work take out 1 or 2 until the problem resides. Kingspade, what type of sand are you using?

 

[hurt]

I have to repectfullly disagree that 46X turnover is way too much for a tank with a LS bed-unless you have oolitic sand, then I would agree. I have 47X turnover in my 55g with a 3 inch sandbed(fiji pink) with no problems at all. I would try and am the powerheads more towards the surface. You can place them towards the middle to bottom as long as you aim them up. And like murph said, you can turn the flow down easily with the Seio's to about half the max. If this doesn't work take out 1 or 2 until the problem resides. Kingspade, what type of sand are you using?

 

[murph145]

i do agree Hurt im assuming he must have a fine sand for it to be blowing around like that
the thing with the Seios if u place them about 1/4 from the top they will suck air and cause micro bubbles they are so strong...
he can try to keep repositiononing them to try and stop them from hitting each other in the middle of the tank i think thats where the prob is occuring its makin a whirlpool in the center if u look its like they all point towards each other and hit in the center

 

[hurt]

My bad, I misread that in your original post.
I know exactly what you mean about putting the actual seio less than 2 inches below the surface. But, what I meant was to aim the head/flow up more towards the surface.
After looking at the direction they are all aimed, I couldn't agree more with your statement. They are all aimed at the top front center. I would aim the two on sides towards the top/middle back center. How they are aimed definitely looks to be his problem though.

 

[murph145]

the way they are aimed will cancel each other out in the middle of the tank id say best bet is 2 of them one towards the front panel shotting from mid to up front and one in the back shooting mid to upper back

 

[kingspade]

i have 240lbs of carib sea arag-alive bahama oolite sand. heres how i have them facing now with them turned down

 

[hurt]

Yep, oolitic sand (.2mm) will give you problems with high flow. For the most part, it looks as if you have solved your problem though. Have you tried to aim the two on the left upwards like the two on the right are currently positioned?

 

[kingspade]

no, i figured have 2 facing up in different directions and have 2 somewhat shooting straight across the middle to get a good spread of flow