Question about powerhead placement

[limemittens]

Just recently got rid of a ongoing cyano problem that has been plaguing my tank for months. After several good cleanings, scrubbing rocks, and water changes, I think it is finally gone. In order to prevent cyano in the future, we have added a MaxiJet 1200 (295 gph) for more circulation and we have a question about placement.

Here is what we have: FOWLR 75 gal long tank w/ yellow tang, blue devil, 3-strip damsel, domino damsel, tomato clown, 6-line wrasse, a blenny (forget kind), about 80 various snails, & 15-20 hermit crabs. Fluval 405 canister filter.

In addition to the new MaxiJet 1200, we have 3 MaxiJet 600 (160 gph) on a wavemaker that cycle every couple of seconds. (We have the wavemaker because we were going to upgrade to a reef tank before the cyano problem. Would still like to do that, but want to get the tank as healthy as possible first.)

Our current placement is as follows:

Maxi 600 on left side in front, 2/3 way up aimed in front of rocks
Maxi 600 on right side in front 1/3 way up aimed at front of rocks
Maxi 600 on left side in back about 1/3 way up, aimed at back of rocks
Maxi 1200 on right side in back 2/3 way up, aimed along back wall of the tank

Water parameters are:
spg= 1.024
pH = 8.0
Nitrites= 0
Amon= 0
Nitrates= 30 (never been able to get them lower)

This was the placement recommended by a LFS , but wanted to get some other opinions. Thanks.

 

[Hara]

hmmm, if it were me, I would think about getting one large internal pump and doing a spraybar..that would be alot easier than all those powerheads all over the place.

 

[melosu58]

Do you have a skimmer? This will help out with those nitrates. That is the source of you algea. If you could get them lower you could maybe knockout that problem. How often are you feeding? Need to feed every other day

 

[player676]

I dont mean to hijack the thread, but I have a similar situation where it looks like I will need 4 powerheads. How would this pump/spraybar situation work. I couldn't find a pump that had one. Are there ones that are recommended and can it be explained how they connect? Thanks

 

[austinsdad]

How often are you doing water changes and how long is your lighting on. Also, how often and what are feeding. 'Dem high nitrates suggest to me that there could be excess nutrients in the water.

Check out the "articles" section above for an article on cyano.

 

[limemittens]

We usually do 10 gal water changes every two weeks but with the cyano we were doing them every 2-3 days to try to get the nitrates down and find a possible cause. The last water change we did on Saturday. Were going to try to watch everything and do another over the weekend.

We usually feed every other day and are using Nutrafin Max Marine Complete (slow sinking). We don't have a skimmer. Tried one about six months ago and could never get the thing to work properly. Lighting is on for about 6 hours each day 4-10pm (6-30W compact flourescents I believe) , then we have small blue LEDs that are on the rest of the time (simulate moonlight).

I hope that helps a bit for clarification on questions. As for the spray bar suggestion, I would be interested in some information about where to find them and how to set them up. I am not familiar with them.

Thanks.

 

[roka64]

I think you can see her Spray Bar http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=738&ppuser=125 in that pic. It runs across the top. I think I might do that for my 125.
Lisa, what kind of pump is that?
Do you find it works better than phs?