Water Movement On A Fowlr

[elecbzerk]

Are powerheads, wavemakers needed on a FOWLR? Maybe a dumb question, but I do not know. I have them on my reef tank for obvious reasons; but i am just wondering how much water movement is neccessary for a fish only tank. My tank has a pretty good return pump with 1100GPH on a 158G. Any opinions/advice is welcome.

[StayPuft]

Water movement is always good to have. First it aerates the water, second it keeps junk from accumulating at the bottom of the tank.

[prime311]

I have dual return PVC that keep the surface of my water active for better aeration and surface skimming. Then you can use the Powerheads to keep things suspended in the water column and prevent any low flow areas that might attract Cyanobacteria growth. I have 2 Koralia 4's in my 125 and I'm probably going to get another PH.

[elecbzerk]

My 158 has two returns, with 1100GPH exchange. I was just wondering how important additional water movement is for LR and aggressive fish

[prime311]

Its not important for the LR and fish at all per se. Its for the reasons staypuft and I listed.

[Recty]

Depends on the fish you are keeping. A lot of them hang out on the reef all day and are used to lots of water flow, I'm sure they appreciate lots of flow in your tank as well.

Fish like Naso tangs really seem to need high water flow to survive well. Same with most tangs and little guys like Anthias.

[sacremon]

On the other hand some fish, like lionfish, prefer areas that have low water flow. While I have 2 Koralia 4s and a Koralia 2 in my 125, I have them pointed in such a way that one side of the tank has relatively low water movement. My lion has decided he likes that area the best.

[johno4]

Some good answers. You def. want flow to prevent things from accumilating on the bottom this will lead to better water quality. Also as mentioned some fish will do better with more flow. When I had my 135 up and running I had 1100 gph on the return and a mag 18 (1800pgh) on a closed loop with to eductors on the ends. The tangs really liked the flow and seemed much happier.

[elecbzerk]

Cool. thanks to everyone that has given advice so far! Seems like everyone is of the same opinion too. I think I will start off with a couple of K4's and see how the fish like it as I stock the tank. I do have some GSP that will like the additional flow.

[1ucky]

I currently have two Koralia 4 with a 1920g/hr return pump in my 180 FOWLR. Alot of flow is always good no matter if it's reef or FOWLR from what I learned in the past 2 months, just my opinion. Before the Koralias I had two cheap powerheads that weren't doing a thing as far as keeping the sand-bed and rocks clean. The tank looks so much cleaner now that I added the 4s; haven't had any disease outbreak either (knock on wood).

[myerst2]

I say absolutely you should have great flow unless you are keeping fish from calm areas. I have over 2000 gph flow in my 180 and considering adding more. There is no bad things that come from extra flow except heat and electric cost. Most people don't this, but I highly recommend using a grounding probe if you add powerheads. Also I would use powerheads like Koralias instead of the conventional ones as fish can get stuck in the intake of conventional pumps. I learned the hard way when my Mappa Puffer got sucked into the pump right on his eye. he died 3 days later. Man did I feel bad about that. Regards, Tim

[1ucky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12921053#post12921053 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by myerst2
I say absolutely you should have great flow unless you are keeping fish from calm areas. I have over 2000 gph flow in my 180 and considering adding more. There is no bad things that come from extra flow except heat and electric cost. Most people don't this, but I highly recommend using a grounding probe if you add powerheads. Also I would use powerheads like Koralias instead of the conventional ones as fish can get stuck in the intake of conventional pumps. I learned the hard way when my Mappa Puffer got sucked into the pump right on his eye. he died 3 days later. Man did I feel bad about that. Regards, Tim

Tim, speaking about Mappas, I bought a 3" one about 4 weeks ago and was afraid that he would get sucked up in the Koralias, but I was wrong; these powerheads are great! He actually went on one of them without no illls effects. I had read one of your previous posts about your little guy getting sucked up in a powehead and was afraid.

[Recty]

Yeah, the Koralia have such large area they pull from that they cant suck in a fish like a typical powerhead does.

[1ucky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12921405#post12921405 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Recty
Yeah, the Koralia have such large area they pull from that they cant suck in a fish like a typical powerhead does.

First time using them and absolutely love them:D !!!

[elecbzerk]

Tim, sorry to hear about your mappa. I have a 2-3 inch golden dogface in QT and will be the first one in the tank in a couple of weeks. One of the reason I asked was because I didn't want him to have the same fate.

[elecbzerk]

1ucky

thanks for your advice. it all makes sense that I should have them. that was my thought, but i just wanted to ask the question to the RC crowd to see what everyone else has in their set-up.

[flameangel88]

I've a 180g and running 2 K4s, 2 MJ 1200 mod for 2300gph, Tunze 6080 and Fluval FX-5. I'm considering putting back the Eheim 2080 for more filter/flow.