Power Head help!

[ff.rice]

I am soon going to be moving my 30 gallon set up to a 55 gallon tank.... I am using live sand on the floor as substrate with a good amount of live rock also. What size and how many PH's should I use for my new tank? I want them to be strong enough to move the proper amount of water, but not so strong that they disturb the sand on the bottom. Any help with this would be great!

 

[ColBen112]

800gph should be good

 

[ff.rice]

Just 1 800 gph? Or 2 400 gph? I used a 1200 in my freshwater 55 before and it blew sand all over so I'm just a little nervous to buy other PH's since nobody will take them back!

 

[DIZZLE808]

I have a 55 and I run 2 hydor 850 PH's. Pretty good flow overall, actually I think I could've went with a little more power but it gets the job done.

 

[DIZZLE808]

Btw. I run them using the wave maker controller and I have them running separately

 

[ff.rice]

Cool... I was thinking about that!

 

[DIZZLE808]

The only drawback I have with the hydor wave maker is that when the pumps turn on it makes a pretty loud clicking noise. My fish don't seem to mind though. Also if you're looking to get actual wave action in your tank you'd be better off going with ecotech pumps, if you can afford to, or jebao wp40's which would be easier on the wallet.

 

[mr_X]

I would wait on the Wp40. It is unknown how long they last. Mine lasted just a few months and then crapped out. The manufacturer also did not honor the warranty.
Hydor Koralias have a good guarantee and have proven to work well. The wave maker is unnecessary.
I would use at least 2 x 850 gph, but if this will be a reef tank, probably more like 2 x 1200-1400gph.

 

[ff.rice]

Right now it is only gonna. E fish and live rock..... Maybe reef in the future but when I used a 1200 in this tank before when it was freshwater it blew the sand everywhere and I never could get it to settle..... Is it going to be different with salt water and live sand?

 

[DIZZLE808]

I would wait on the Wp40. It is unknown how long they last. Mine lasted just a few months and then crapped out. The manufacturer also did not honor the warranty.
Hydor Koralias have a good guarantee and have proven to work well. The wave maker is unnecessary.
I would use at least 2 x 850 gph, but if this will be a reef tank, probably more like 2 x 1200-1400gph.

Oh that sucks that they didn't honor the warranty. I almost bought the wp40 but went with the hydor 850's instead.

 

[DIZZLE808]

Right now it is only gonna. E fish and live rock..... Maybe reef in the future but when I used a 1200 in this tank before when it was freshwater it blew the sand everywhere and I never could get it to settle..... Is it going to be different with salt water and live sand?

I haven't had any problem with my two 850's blowing around my substrate

 

[mr_X]

I believe if you attached the 2 power heads about 2/3 up to the side panes and aimed them at each other, you would not see sand blowing around.

 

[DIZZLE808]

Just wanted you to see where I have mine at..

 

[mr_X]

Mines?

 

[DIZZLE808]

Lol I didn't even notice that

 

[ff.rice]

Sounds good..... Thank you all so much for the help!!

 

[PurplePolyp]

You want 30-40 times turnover. So a 30 gallon tank would want 900-1200 GPH flow. Go with 2 power heads so you can create a current instead of a whirlpool.

Sent from my XT1080 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[kdpuffer]

30-40 times turnover is overkill in a fowlr, I would go with 2 1000-1200 GPH pumps. I ran 2 1050 and 1 1200 on my 55 and it was good. I used the natural wave maker power bar and it was nice, easier on the wallet than the hydor one and works the same way with the addition of a 3rd controlled outlet. Sand blowing around wasn't an issue either and on that note I would caution against using maxi jets as power heads as the suction cups are horrible and the powerheads can fall down. They do have an arm to hold it also but it is short so you have to have the pump up high to use it. Honestly from personal experience the koralias are good pumps but I would avoid the wave maker as contrary to what hydor says they don't work very well after a time. They will start trying to spin backwards after a while which is dealt with by a rubber bumper but I found with mine that the bumpers would break off eventually and then it will start backwards frequently. If you can afford it look at the ecotech pumps. I got some a while back and they are AWESOME. Expensive but worth it. One mp40 would have your water churning like mad, or a couple mp10.

 

[mr_X]

I have been having pretty good luck with Aqueon pumps.

 

[jjh302]

Ok this caught my interest. So with this logic my 96 gallon corner reef aquarium should be flowing about 3000gph? If this is true I should also take in to count the flow that my return pump is pushing back in correct??