Tropical Fish Forums

CCS · Regulars Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Location: SLO County, CA, USA

Hey, I was recommended to use two Seio 1500 powerheads for my 86g reef. Since each powerhead creates 1500gph totalling in 3000gph, do you think this is too much waterflow? I'm asking because I read of people having a much less amount of water movement.
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I would like to acknowledge that all of the info I give is purely based on research.

Banjo

I am in the process of planning a mini-reef and would love to hear from someone more experienced on water turnover required.

Robert Metelsky recommends 12X total tank volume per hour at this site: http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/METELSKY.HTM

Michael L.

In my 15 gallon nano that is being set up right now, I have about 20X turn over, and I would not hesitate to bump it up to 30 even. I don't think you will have problems, as long as you have some sort of refuge for your fish if the current is bothering them.
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SLACkra

my nano has about 55 X tank volume in turnover approx. there are some tanks out there with a lot more too. usually ones that are BB(bare bottom) and have a starboard base which means they can have heaps of flow with no sand storms(also its nice and clean). how much flow you have depends on what sortof corals your looking to have and fish. small polyped stony corals will require more flow then say mushroom corals or zoanthids. whats the overall plan for the reef? mixed, bit of this bit of that, just soft corals, maybe some large polyped stony corals?

answer those questions and you'll know how much flow you need.

andrew

CCS · Regulars Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Location: SLO County, CA, USA

Well, I know I'll have SPS corals, which means I will need a higher turnover rate. I'll also have some mushrooms, polyps, softies, and LPS's. What would you recommend?
_________________
I would like to acknowledge that all of the info I give is purely based on research.

SLACkra

designing the tank and its flow so you have some areas of low flow and some with higher flow. really just moving pumps around and seeing where the flow is and ajusting acordingly. I have to make sure my powerheads not blasting straight at a coral, I have it aiming behind the rockwork where the flow defuses a bit.

andrew