Flow rate in my 90. Your thoughts.

[AdrianBryce]

I am shopping for powerheads for my 90, and am wondering what your thoughts are for flow from power heads. I was thinking about 5000gph, or 55x volume turnover. what do you think?

[andywe]

ABit EXCESSIVE! :-) you need about 1/2 that.

My 180 should average about 4500 gph. There is a formula out there for it. 3 K3's would do you good. Or 2 K4's and a K3 even better.

1xmp40 +1 MP10, or a few Tunze 6075's or similar. Depends on what you want to spend.

[ZachB]

I have around 40x turnover in my 75. A little over 3,000 gph total.

[DMBillies]

I am shopping for powerheads for my 90, and am wondering what your thoughts are for flow from power heads. I was thinking about 5000gph, or 55x volume turnover. what do you think?

What is your sand situation? That, I find, is the biggest limiting factor for flow. Big powerheads are great, but even most of the best powerheads put out too tight of a stream to point them right at corals (unless you go with a ton of really small ones). You are then stuck bouncing your flow around the walls of the tank, shooting the stream toward the surface, or having to bury your powerheads in your rocks (which can create it's own set of problems).

There are plenty of calculations and guidelines you can use and you should be sure to just use those as guidelines. More important than how much flow is how the flow is dispersed through the tank... and that, unfortunately, generally just takes practice and getting a feel for it.

I had 2 Koralia 4's, a Koralia 2, and the return pump in my 90 by the time I took it down (almost all SPS). I think I started with a couple of MJ1200's and the return (when it was mostly softies and before I had a clue what I was really doing). I took the sand out of my tank between that transition too...

[supertech99]

I agree your LE leather may get a bit beat up at that rate! I put 3600 in my 75 and my softies didnt like it. I think andys recomendations are right on about 2 k2s and one k3 i think that plus your return will keep you nice and random.....of course vortech would also be great!

[AdrianBryce]

http://www.aquacave.com/coralvue-high-seas-102b-br-high-output-propeller-driven-br-powerhead-1250-gph-12w-2594.html

http://www.aquacave.com/coralvue-high-seas-201b-br-high-output-dual-propeller-br-driven-powerhead-1500-gph-br12w-2595.html

I am thinking either three of the first link or two of the second link.

[andywe]

They are Cheap powerheads. Normally I am all for cheap stuff, but when those came out (not long ago) people were complaining of them starting backwards and of forceful flow (jet engine) versus moving water. the goal is not to spin your tank like a whirlpool, it is for large water movement as a whole. Just keep this in mind.

[nightfire]

just in koralia power im at around 2055 gph in my 55....bit much?i think i might have em in pretty good spots

[DMBillies]

They are Cheap powerheads. Normally I am all for cheap stuff, but when those came out (not long ago) people were complaining of them starting backwards and of forceful flow (jet engine) versus moving water. the goal is not to spin your tank like a whirlpool, it is for large water movement as a whole. Just keep this in mind.

They've made some improvements. For example, I've never had a problem with them starting backward... from time to time one will not restart after a power out, but never backwards (and that I can live with). Now, it's possible I just got good ones, but I've owned 7 of them.

As far as dispersed flow, they are WAY better than an MJ and maybe not quite as good as a tunze. In any case, all powerheads have the same problem... all of the flow is generated from basically a point source. Even a tunze you can't point directly at a coral and expect good things. Something a tunze does get you if you spend the money is a nice flow controller that will give you better overall random flow in the tank.

Bouncing things around the tank helps create some turbulence to help disperse the flow and any kind of random flow generation you can add to the mix will help too, but we'll never be able to duplicate the straight-line flow on most reefs in a rectangular box.