Best way to set up water flow

[Caige]

Is there a secret to this? Should my Koralia's be set up to make a whirlpool action? should they be pointed at eachother, should they be aimed upward to ripple the top or what?

 

[roka64]

You don't want a whirlpool effect. Think of the chaotic flow of the ocean and place them that way.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

There's no secret, but it will take a little experimenting to get something you like. Bouncing flow off the glass and rocks help spread things around. They don't need to be pointed directly at each other, but having their flows collide into each other help break up any circular motion, and that's a good thing.

I know it's hard when you're starting out, but also try to visualize what type of corals you might have in the future, and where they might live. Some corals like high flow (usually corals that want to live high in the tank) and some like low flow. Try to plan your flow accordingly so you have some high flow areas and some low flow areas. Yeah... it's tough, but just go into it realizing that you'll probably move those powerheads around 3-4 more times as you start stocking your tank with coral!

 

[melosu58]

My flow consist of my two return lines which are powered by a mag 12 and a mag 9.5 pointed at each other to provide chotic flow.

 

[Patroklos]

I have my two Koralia 3s pointing down at the middle of the tank and at at each other from opposite corners (front left and back right) and my return flow from a mag 9.5 spit with on nozzle pointed at the front glass and another along the surface to get a wave effect.

When I add my final rockwork this week (hopefully) I may add another Koralia 3 to push water along the back of the tank to maker sure there isn't any stagnate water behind the rock work.

 

[bwilcox1208]

can we have some of you post some pics of how you have it set up......that would help.

 

[Patroklos]

There is a lot more rock now, but the powerheads are in the same place as I described earlier.

 

[bwilcox1208]

There is a lot more rock now, but the powerheads are in the same place as I described earlier.

hey thanks for the pic, that helps a lot!

 

[bwilcox1208]

also what size tank is that, I have a 29 looks very similar. I have 2 koralia 1's but didnt know what to point them at. think the 1's will do the job in a 29 g?

 

[Patroklos]

My tank is a 65g and those are two Koralia 3s in there. I am only two months into the hobby myself, but my undertanding is that you want to create zones of flow so that you can support both high and low flow corals. At the same time, you don't want any dead zones. To accomplish this in my tank I have the two power heads pointed at each other and down a bit so the flow meets in the center of the tank. That gives me a very turbulant high flow area in teh middle water column, and leaves my upper and lower water column with reduced flow but not stagnate.

If I were you I would just experiment. try different configurations and then sprinkle sand into the water and watch how it moves through the water column.

 

[bwilcox1208]

My tank is a 65g and those are two Koralia 3s in there. I am only two months into the hobby myself, but my undertanding is that you want to create zones of flow so that you can support both high and low flow corals. At the same time, you don't want any dead zones. To accomplish this in my tank I have the two power heads pointed at each other and down a bit so the flow meets in the center of the tank. That gives me a very turbulant high flow area in teh middle water column, and leaves my upper and lower water column with reduced flow but not stagnate.

If I were you I would just experiment. try different configurations and then sprinkle sand into the water and watch how it moves through the water column.

hey thanks for the idea, the sand trick sounds like it would work pretty good. Nice one.

 

[pat8you]

Can't help much with your flow situation. Seems like you have the right idea now so all that's left is to kinda mess with it till you get it the way you like it. If you do happen to add another power head i might suggest putting it lower in the tank and bouncing it off the glass a couple times. Having flow over your sand bed (without blowing sand everywhere obviously) helps to keep cyano and diatoms from growing on your sand. Won't stop them from happening but just makes it harder for it to grow. Just a thought though.