water flow

[mcginnisandrew]

How much flow should i have in my 29 gallon tank?

since i set up my tank (2 and a half years ago) i have had a maxi jet 600 and a maxi jet 300 on my tank, so 455 gph total, but there are still dead spots. I have a hydor koralia 2 (600 gph) which i use for mixing saltwater. Should i switch the pumps so that the hydor koralia is in my tank? or would that be too much flow?

Also, right now both of the maxi jets are right next to eachother, on one end of the tank (at the top, with the flow directed at the surface of the water); if you think i should just keep the maxi jets, how should i position them differently to eliminate dead spots?

i have already tried having them on opposite ends of the tank, and this didn't seem to do much. Ive also tried other combinations of positions, using a
Hydor FLO Rotating Deflector, but the flow rate always slowed down through the deflector.

what do you think?


thanks

[shifty51008]

depending on what your keeping in the tank ppl shoot for 10x - 30x flow but others I have seen get up to 100+x turnover

[mcginnisandrew]

really 10X-30X? I always thought 5X was a good level.

So should i switch out the pumps then? With the koralia it would be about 20.7 times, so i guess thats ok if what you said is true.

[mcginnisandrew]

also i have mainly LPS, soft corals, and of course fish and inverts.

[shifty51008]

yeah 10x - 30x is good for softies and lps, more so for sps but you also have to look at the type of flow. you will ge better flow patterns from the koralia pumps due to the wider spread of flow than with a maxijet which is just a stream of water. so I would switch them

[shifty51008]

oh and 3x - 5x flow is what you want running through your sump fuge area

[sdc19982002]

I run 2400 gph in my 58 and it's still not enough.

[bertoni]

For the animals you listed, most species would be fine with 300 gph or so. More might be better, up to a limit. You could try picking some specific species, and we might be able to be more precise.

[IslandCrow]

In the end, I think you really end up getting the pumps you need, and gallons per hour is nothing more than a mildly interesting topic for debate. Different pumps have different flow patterns, so a 600gph Maxijet is not going to have the same flow effect on your tank as a 600gph Koralia. In general, the propellar style powerheads like Koralias are going to be a better choice for just about any tank than the impeller style pumps like Maxijets. Powerhead placement and aiming are also crucial. If you know where your dead spots are, direct your flow so they are eliminated (or at least signficantly reduced). If that just creates more dead spots, you need more or bigger powerheads. Depending on your rock arrangement, powerhead choice, tank dimensions, and of course livestock, your the total gallons per hour that works for you may be significantly different than what works for someone else with the same size tank.

[mcginnisandrew]

thanks for your input guys
specific corals in my tank: trumpet coral, candy cane coral, trachyphyllia, zoas, 3 different frogspawns, mushrooms, ricordea, zoas, dendrophyllia, favia, platygyra coral, and yellow colony polyps.

i will definitely try out the koralia in my tank and see if that helps with the dead spots and everything.

I also have about 40 pounds of live rock in the tank, with lots of caves and stuff

[mcginnisandrew]

woops, accidentally posted that last one twice

[Mounda]

I think you'd be better off with the koralia in the tank, the flow flares more on that type of powerhead. The unmodded maxijet will give you a pretty linear flow pattern. You could try to mod it using a mod kit.

[Ward1]

How much flow are you getting from your filter return? I didn't see any mention of that?

[mcginnisandrew]

well i have one of the fittings on the maxi jets already, but i will definately try out the koralia, thanks!



How much flow are you getting from your filter return? I didn't see any mention of that?

Aren't you not supposed to count that in your tanks flow rate?

[crvz]

Aren't you not supposed to count that in your tanks flow rate?

Yes, return flow is counted as part of overall GPH in the display.

[mcginnisandrew]

really? huh. In that case i have 945 gph in the tank, but 455 in directional flow or whatever you call it.
And i still haven't switched out the powerheads but i will probably do that some time today

thanks for your help guys

[GrampaDon]

IMO :hmm6: Put the hydor on the MJ600. It creates a wider ,but random flow pattern. And use the koralia at the opposite end. With both crossing each other in the middle.