How much water movement?

[GrantMeThePower]

Is there a rule of thumb for how much water movement you should have?

Currently in my 60 gallon i have the return line from my sump and one rio powerhead. I was wondering if i should add a second power head.

Thank you!

[reefnetworth]

10X's is minimum GPH T/O rate as a 'rule of thumb' unless you have SPS then it goes up to 15-20X's GPH T/O depending on the corals.

[indydog1]

what are you keeping? 20x's for just fish 30-40x's for corals.

[GrantMeThePower]

Mostly softies, LPS, shrooms, brain coral, etc

Seahorses in a couple months with a couple gobies and such.

So 20X i should shoot for?

[billdogg]

for what you have i would go at least 20x or more. seahorses will not make it in that tank - they should be in a species only or at least very mellow tank, and cannot fight the water movement the corals need

[GrantMeThePower]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13142295#post13142295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billdogg
for what you have i would go at least 20x or more. seahorses will not make it in that tank - they should be in a species only or at least very mellow tank, and cannot fight the water movement the corals need

Could you be more specific with which corals won't work with the seahorses? I was under the impression that light flow corals such as mushrooms and brains were ok with seahorses?

[Michael]

best to keep seahorses with eel grass and pipe fish or other very timid fish who wont bother them, they need eel grass or the like to hang on too, slow water movement is best, and most corals will suffer with low flow, im not an expert but have read loads on seahorses

[Aquarist007]

20-40 times the tank volume in gph for lps and softies and 40 to 60 or better for sps corals

Also take into consideration the placement of the power heads and the kind of flow they are giving
eg Koralinas give out turbulant flow and the collateral affect is quite large

maxijets and tunze give out straight flow and little collateral affect

the surface of your tank should be very turbulant to help with gas exchange and filtration

ideally your flow should enter the tank, be directed towards the bottom, across the bottom of the substrate and be directed up the opposite side to the overflow. From there it should be forced across the surface towards the oveflow

[GrantMeThePower]

Currently this is how i have it set up (if you need pics i can take them at home tonight).

Its a 60 gallon with a built in overflow. The overflow is on the left side of the tank and protrudes as a rectangle approx 4 inches in to the right and towards the front.

I have a Rio powerhead near the top of the tank pointing forward towards the front. It is located right up against the right side of the overflow.

The return line from the sump is all the way on the opposite side (right side) pointing to the left (towards the overflow) right below the water line.

Is this good? Where should I add another? I was thinking about a Koralina 1

[superstein61]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13147145#post13147145 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
20-40 times the tank volume in gph for lps and softies and 40 to 60 or better for sps corals

Also take into consideration the placement of the power heads and the kind of flow they are giving
eg Koralinas give out turbulant flow and the collateral affect is quite large

maxijets and tunze give out straight flow and little collateral affect

the surface of your tank should be very turbulant to help with gas exchange and filtration

ideally your flow should enter the tank, be directed towards the bottom, across the bottom of the substrate and be directed up the opposite side to the overflow. From there it should be forced across the surface towards the oveflow

Any idea how to measure the impact of a penductor / edutor / flow accelerator on the out nozzel when estimating flow?

I have an eheim 1262 (900gph before head - probably about 760 after head) feeding two Pacific Flow Accelerator's (like a penductor) in a closed loop. The Pacific Flow Accelerator's say they increase flow up to 400%. I am working with a 72g tank - and it is pretty turbulent. The only other flow I have right now is my sump return - but thats a Mag 7 throttled at least half way back to keep the flow from the sump where I need it.

Without any impact from the Flow Accelerators - I am only at about 10x turnover. If I truly get 400% improvement, then I am at 40x turnover.

I was initially planning on adding a Maxi-Jet 900 with the Sure Flow mod to give me 1400 more gph flow - but like I said, its pretty turbulent now.

So anyone have any thoughts on measuring the impact of flow accelerators / educator / penductors on flow?

Thanks

[xskyzx]

sorry to jack your thread but i have a 20 gallons with maxi 1200 as return, i want to add k2 for more flow would that be toomuch? (mainly zoas , and maybe some sps) thanks...

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13147815#post13147815 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xskyzx
sorry to jack your thread but i have a 20 gallons with maxi 1200 as return, i want to add k2 for more flow would that be toomuch? (mainly zoas , and maybe some sps) thanks...

that would be 890 gal per hour--- it might be a little high for some lps corals but not for the sps
The K2 might stir up the substrate even placing it high in the tank so you might want to place it low in the tank and direct it upwards--that will stop the sand storm

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13147322#post13147322 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GrantMeThePower
Currently this is how i have it set up (if you need pics i can take them at home tonight).

Its a 60 gallon with a built in overflow. The overflow is on the left side of the tank and protrudes as a rectangle approx 4 inches in to the right and towards the front.

I have a Rio powerhead near the top of the tank pointing forward towards the front. It is located right up against the right side of the overflow.

The return line from the sump is all the way on the opposite side (right side) pointing to the left (towards the overflow) right below the water line.

Is this good? Where should I add another? I was thinking about a Koralina 1

that placement is excellent

you could add another placed high so it is creating a high flow zone across the top of the reef if you are going to add sps corals