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View Full Version : Flow Questions


marcwake
03/09/2007, 10:53 PM
My tank is a 135g so it is 6ft long and 18" wide. I was running just the overflow for flow at first with a mag18 return. I then slowed down the return(by letting some of it go right back to the return section) becuase I had a lot of micro bubbles with that much water flowing through the sump. So that left me with less than 1000 gal/hour of flow in the display(but much less bubbles) so I added a single maxi-jet and everything seemed to benefit from the flow( corals are more open, fish seem to like to swim in the flow) but looking at flow recommendations around you see figures all over the board(as far as tank volume * 20-60. I decided that the maxi-jet was a help but not nearly enough since it could not come close to creating flow in that large of a tank. I ordered another maxi jet and the mjmods.com mod kits to make them high flow pumps. So now I have 2 very strong maxi-streams at opposite ends of the tank blowing toward the middle over the rocks. This is great flow but is it to much flow? I have a shallow sand bed at it blows it around a little but doesn't do to bad (after some tinkering with placement) I am thinking of getting a wave maker so that there would be different times with each powerhead but not both all the time like I do now. I also have them right now going on and off with my actinics which run 12 hours a day cause it seemed like they would need some break from the flow. Any thoughts and or suggestions on flow would be great or just let me know what you are running in yours and how many gallons it is. I will try to get some pictures of my tank uploaded tonight as I finally got a digital camera but it is a hand me down so don't expect anything great(as if I could get good shots no matter what the camera). Well if you still reading this thanks a lot and I look forward to you replys
Marc Wakefield