1200 maxi jet

[fishybusiness61]

hey guys I am new to the site and also new to the reef aquarium! i have been learning a lot of things in the past few weeks and one things that i learned is that i have to have a lot of flow in the tank for corals to be able to grow... now my question is, i have a 40 gallon breeder aquarium i just bought a maxi jet 1200 powerhead and it seems to be very strong for my two clowns that i have, so i was wondering is this powerhead to powerful for a 40 gallon breeder tank?

[anderson0196]

Most will suggest around 25x turnover per hour and while this is good advice it is also dependent on what you'll keep. If you subscribe to this you need to shoot for about 1000 gph in a 40g tank.

At around 300gph, I would say that it is certainly not ideal as your only flow in the tank.

[kfisc]

Welcome! Read the threads at the top of the forum, as much as you can. If you'd like to keep corals, about four of those in a 40g breeder is not out of the question, especially for sps. You'll need to place them carefully to avoid too much "one way" flow and aim for as much random turbulence as you can. Clowns love to play in flow and will adapt.

That being said, some LPS, and especially clams, don't like direct blasting at all, so it's good to plan what you'd like to keep first and go from there.

[fishybusiness61]

Ok! thanks so much for yalls help i didnt know that i needed more flow!! but my clowns started doing something weird and just keep swimming in the corners of the tank when i have this pump on? is that normal?

[returnofsid]

I'm currently running 2XModded Maxijet 1200s, each pushing 2200GPH, for a total of 4400GPH, in a 40 breeder, with a pair of clownfish. It is a lot of flow, but the clownfish are just fine. A standard MJ1200 is putting out less than 300 GPH.

[fishybusiness61]

so should i get a couple of the same one i got or get a different kind of powerhead to add greater flow?

[anderson0196]

IMO the maxi's are too big for my liking. If you can swing it the Vortechs are really nice. For the money I like Tunze, Koralia is another option to look at. The Maxi will work though.

[chris35moto]

if your clowns are small they might have issues. if you need to reduce the flow just angle the powerhead at the wall. it will cut it down a substantial amount.