Need advice on circulation

[neomarz]

65G 36X24X16 Drain & return both drilled on top corners. I have a jebao rw8 and Im looking for advice on where to position it to pickup waste and blow to drain. I also have a 250gph powerhead if that would help. I tried facing them toward each other. One high one low on opposite sides of the tank. I tried both on one side of the tank also. Tested with flakes and they seem to only float around but never reach the drain. Any ideas on what I should do or try next? My sump is only running a 250gph pump which I know is pretty low but its only temp. thanks

 

[54seaweed]

250s in a 3 ft tank will definitely not be enough ,
I use 2 950's one on each end in my 90g on the sides toward the front corners of tank about 3inch below surface pointed opposite rear corners one towards the surface one towards the mid section of tank and I also keep a 350 in the center facing down this one keeps the circulation going all around the tank in a circular motion and gets all areas no dead spots my tank is 4 ft but I'm sure the same power head lay out would help you too

 

[neomarz]

ok im goin to try and setup the jebao and powerhead the same way. I see that you have your rock on the sides and the center open. Do you think my rock placement is fine or should i go with a different layout? Will post results thanks

 

[54seaweed]

it's all about what you like and you can get the circulation to the point you have no dead spots, I had a 37g tank set up like that but I made sure to have a few caves for the fish , and gives area for water to move with in the rock
the one thing I did find with the whole tank full with rocks was the circulation never got every part of the tank , another thing was there was less areas to put corals since everything overlapped , I just happen to get lucky with this tank that I had placement for lots of coral , but my swimming space was limited I loved this tank as it turned out nice ,

I had many tanks when I was young, but this was my first tank I started after 20+ plus years of not having one , than I up graded to a 40b and went with the split layout I found the fish seemed more content having more room to swim , I also found the split lay out helps cut the aggression with the fish as they each have there own territory , you can have more caves for the fish , and it also gives the inverts more places to Rome , it also helps give you more places to put coral as you can place more ledges and such this way you can keep sps on one side lps on the other than fill in all the blanks with zoa's and such
this is another tank I had the 40B as you can see you can get a more natural environment that the fish seem to enjoy

than after I tore this tank down I went to the 90g and I'm still working on getting to look like my old 40B

if you see in this pict with the split layout you can sit your rocks a bit differently giving more flat surface area for corals as you can sit rock on a angle giving more room

take your time till your happy with what you have and your tank to will come alive

 

[neomarz]

Ok so I re-arraigned my rocks and got a better circulation. The problem I am having now is that my drain to sump is not draining fast enough. I have a 300gph pump on currently. When I hookup my 650gph pump it will fill up my DT faster than its drained to sump. Heres a pic of my drain side. Should I drill an airline hose on the elbow of the drain? I dont get why bigger gph does not drain at the same rate.

Drain: 1" bulkhead with 1" vinyl tubing to sump.
Return is 1" bulkhead 3/4" vinyl to DT

 

[Sniperhank]

This is why you always want to have a ball or gate valve coming off of your return so you can adjust the flow to the perfect amount.

 

[neomarz]

Any other way to increase the drain flow? Also wouldnt restricting the flow output put more stress on the motor?

 

[Sniperhank]

Putting the valve AFTER the pump is actually healthy for a pump and can increase it's lifespan. You can not increase the flow from the drain.