do i need powerheads for lps coral?

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Yes you will need powerheads. You need a chaotic flow to have a breeze of sw running through them. As to which one there are many types out there that work good. Hard to narrow it down to one.
 
For LPS coral you will want a total flow of about 1200 gallons per hour or GPH. I personally prefer to do this with multiple smaller powerheads. Perhaps 2 rated for 600-750 GPH. On my tank (90g) I run my run at about 500, 2 koralia 1050 and 1 koralia 1400 which gives me a total of 4000 GPH if they all ran at once. My return is constant and my three powerheads are on a wave maker so they alternate to get a varied flow pattern.
 
melosu58 said:
Yes you will need powerheads. You need a chaotic flow to have a breeze of sw running through them. As to which one there are many types out there that work good. Hard to narrow it down to one.

Oh ookay. Will 2 600gph koralia work good? Maybe alternate them every 10 seconds?
 
kdpuffer said:
For LPS coral you will want a total flow of about 1200 gallons per hour or GPH. I personally prefer to do this with multiple smaller powerheads. Perhaps 2 rated for 600-750 GPH. On my tank (90g) I run my run at about 500, 2 koralia 1050 and 1 koralia 1400 which gives me a total of 4000 GPH if they all ran at once. My return is constant and my three powerheads are on a wave maker so they alternate to get a varied flow pattern.

Oh okay so u should get 2 or 3 smaller ones like koralia 600gph?
 
As a general rule for flow you want to follow these guidelines. For FOWLR (fish only) you want at least 10x tank volume in flow, so a 60 gallon would need at least 600 gallons per hour flow. For LPS and softies you want at least 20x tank volume in flow, so for a 60 gallon you would want at least 1200 gallons per hour flow. For SPS you want at least 30x so for a 60 gallon you would want at least 1800 gallons per hour. Keep in mind these are "MINIMUMS" but there can be to much flow or perhaps to direct of flow. You want water to flow everywhere in your tank but you don't want sand flying around and things getting blasted. Personally I have found that placing the powerheads on the back of the tank in each corner and facing them towards the front and slightly off the towards the center to work the best.
 
As a general rule for flow you want to follow these guidelines. For FOWLR (fish only) you want at least 10x tank volume in flow, so a 60 gallon would need at least 600 gallons per hour flow. For LPS and softies you want at least 20x tank volume in flow, so for a 60 gallon you would want at least 1200 gallons per hour flow. For SPS you want at least 30x so for a 60 gallon you would want at least 1800 gallons per hour. Keep in mind these are "MINIMUMS" but there can be to much flow or perhaps to direct of flow. You want water to flow everywhere in your tank but you don't want sand flying around and things getting blasted. Personally I have found that placing the powerheads on the back of the tank in each corner and facing them towards the front and slightly off the towards the center to work the best.

I want to thank you for that "General Rule" info. I don't believe I've ever seen it broken down like that and I'm one of those that need the formula or science behind it not just the famous "Because" answer.
 
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