Water Circulation

Thanks Coral Reefer. You answered my question. Now maybe you can give me an idea on placement of the powerheads. The tank is 48" long and 18" wide, expect on the left side where my built in overflow is. This part of the tank is only 12" wide. I do have my return pump bringing water in through a locline. I also have the maxijet 1200 modified, and will most likely go with the Koralia 3.

Where and how would you recommend placement of the powerheads and the locline from the return. Should I have these pointed into rocks or with no obstructions in front? Pointing up or down, high or low on tank, ect...?

Appreciate any help in the matter. I do understand it will depend on types of coral, but maybe if I can place the powerheads first, then this will help me with coal placement.

 

Wow, never seen that mod before. It looks pretty good..

 

I use a Koralia 3 in my 65G tank. I put it on one of the side walls aboout half way up, and angled it slightly towards the surface. The water therefore flows across the tank, hits the other wall and cycles around. This configuration has been great for me. The Koralia really puts out a wide flow, so I have water movement all across the tank. Also the return from my sump shoots straight across the tank and hits the front wall. So between the Koralia and the returns, nearly every inch of my tank gets some type of water flow. I put the Koralia in about 2 months ago. I replaced 3 Aquaclear 301 powerheads with it. The difference is amazing! no dead spots in the tank, my corals look lots better.

 

So APC, what do you think your total water flow in tank is? I know the Koralia 3 is 850gph, but what about your return line? My tank is only a little bigger and I already have about 2100gph water circulating, so I am a little concerned that adding a Koralia 3 would be too much flow. Most reefers seems to say the more flow, the better, but you do have to be careful with what you put in your tank. BTW, what types of corals, fish, and inverts do you have in your tank?

 

I would set up the powerheads so that the flow banks off of the glass, this affords you a more disbursed flow to more parts of your tank. I would also make sure you have some flow on top of your pelagic area of your tank(water cloumn) to help to help in the gas transfer between your water column and the air/ surface interface. This should help to rid carbon dioxide and add beneficial dissolvd oxygen to your water.
Alot of what you do in regards to water flow will be based on trial and error to grant you and your corals the most ideal scenario in my opinion!