How can I increase flow better?

[catmel]

First off I want to thank everyone who helped me with my cyano issue. Good news is I figured out the problem.. bad news is, it may take some work to fix.

I cant believe it. You learn something new every day is all I have to say on that. I feel sort of dumb, being in this hobby for over 2 years now.. apprently I have bad flow in the back part of my tank and when I cleaned the tank, I only vacuumed the front part! Duh! I did a 50% water change ( hope to do another next week) - I used my turkey baster behind the rocks ( since I couldnt get the 'vaccum' back there) and it is unbeleiveable how much deitrus was back there! And I didnt even get it all with the 50% change. I dont know why I didnt think of it sooner... yikes! At least the livestock didnt suffer ( the coral is actually growing!)

My question now being, how do I better increase my flow? I have two koralia 3s in my 55 gallon along with about 80# of live rock which I have propped up against the back wall of the tank - there is a tunnel that goes all the way through the rock in the back, but only a few holes in the middle of the rock. How do I make this better without completely tearing down the rockwork and stressing the fish/coral?

Much appreciation to everyone whos helped and thank you to anyone with any more suggestions

 

[neilanh]

The easy way is to get an additional small powerhead specifically to push accross the back of the tank. You might also be able to reorient the powerheads you already have to help create better circulation back there.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I was going to suggest what neilanh mentioned... either a little Nano Korallia (they're really small!) or one of the Marineland Mini-Jets (like a 404 or something) might be able to fit back there. If nothing else, maybe just remove one of the rocks on the pile to fit something in?

 

[David S]

If you are able to move some of the rock you could attach a powerhead to a length of pipe which has a cap on the end and drill holes in the pipe this will put water flow over the whole of the back of your rock,have a look in my profile i have done similar to this.

 

[catmel]

thanks for the help i'll keep you updated

 

[thincat]

Here are a few pump placements that you might try:

 

[Keith A.]

David S,

Now THAT's a great idea. I wish I would have thought about that for my tank. Attach some PVC pipe to the return nozzle of a powerhead, cap it and drill holes throughout the pipe would definately push the water out from behind the rock.

Keith

 

[David S]

works well on mine.

 

[catmel]

Thanks for the ideas and help! I moved some rocks around, repositioned my power heads and have done two water changes this week... may need to do another few, but so far so good. I definatly had my rocks in the wrong position. I'll have to see if my new arrangement works a bit better.