Water Flow and Circulation

[alyxandria]

Hi there. I'm looking at purchasing two Hydor Koralia 240GPH circulation pumps for my 20G FOWLR (eventual reef).

240 + 240 = 480/20 = 24x

Is this sufficient flow for a reef tank? I plan on keeping a wide variety of corals. Should I purchase the 360 degree rotating deflectors for them as well?

 

[bribo12]

I'd up one of them to a 425. The 240s are really weak IME. I had a 240 and 425 in my 20 tall before I upgraded to an mp10 and that worked fine for softies and lps


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[alyxandria]

Would that make the circulation lopsided though? Or does that matter? How did you have yours positioned? Did you have the rotators?

I'm interested in keeping sps, lps, zoas.

 

[bribo12]

No I had them on opposite sides and it created good random flow. I grew birdsnest with that for about 2 months as well.

Edit: if you want sps your gonna need at least 2 425s. Most sps corals like a ton of flow
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[alyxandria]

Okay, so two 425's then. Will that push around my clownfish a lot? I had a 500 GPH one in and I was worried it was too much for him.

 

[bribo12]

So will one 240 and one 420 allow me to keep the corals I'd like?

Depending on the types of sps maybe. Birdsnest and montis will probably do ok but I'd want more flow for acros.


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[alyxandria]

Ok so if it were your tank - for the largest variety of corals what would you go with.

 

[bribo12]

Okay, so two 425's then. Will that push around my clownfish a lot? I had a 500 GPH one in and I was worried it was too much for him.

Was it a koralia? That shouldn't be a problem. My clown does fine and at times my tank is pushing 1000 gph.


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[bribo12]

Ok so if it were your tank - for the largest variety of corals what would you go with.

2 425s or a jaebo wp 10. However I've only heard good things about the jaebo and never used one so I can't give anymore help there. Other users who use them I'm sure will chime in at some point.


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[alyxandria]

Awesome thank you very much! Appreciate it.