Powerhead/How to angle and How many

dsn112 · #1 10/24/2007, 09:22 AM

Hey all, I have a 29g bowfront with 1 Koralia 1 powerhead in the top right corner angled down towards the middle of the tank.

Question one is what is a good spot to angle it at?

Question two is do I need another for the other side of the tank?

Currently there is nothing but LR and LS in there, but I want to simulate everything the way it would be when the fish and coral are in now.

Thanks
Dave

traderdan · #2 10/24/2007, 09:28 AM

What kind of return pump do you have?

dsn112 · #3 10/24/2007, 09:34 AM

Return Pump?

I have a Red Sea Prizm skimmer on the other side of the tank.

That is all I have in the tank

steri · #4 10/24/2007, 10:09 AM

I'm guessing you don't have a sump/refugium for this tank. It also sounds like you don't have any canister or wet/dry filters.

Ok, if that's that case, I would add one more powerhead. You won't get flow from your skimmer, that's why I would add one more. With your main filtration being the skimmer and the LR, IMO, you would want the water moved closer to 20x tank volume per hour. So for you, aim towards moving about 580-590 gallons of water an hour with your powerheads. I hope that helps.

steri · #5 10/24/2007, 10:10 AM

BTW, don't get the wrong impression from my post, many people run smaller tanks (and a 29 is a smaller tank) with no more then LR and a skimmer as their filter. You should be fine with that, IMO. Just make sure that water is movin

dsn112 · #6 10/24/2007, 10:14 AM

No sump/refugium or canister/wet/dry filters. '

So add another head opposite the original. The Korilia 1 is rated at 400gph, so two would be 800ghp, is that too much for my small reef?

Slice of Ocean · #7 10/24/2007, 11:38 AM

It will be fine if you add another one. That would give you 27.5X turnover. Right now I have a koralia 2 and a MJ900 that I just put in there for more flow. I'm going to replace the MJ with a Koralia #1. At first I was worried I had too much flow but my tank is doing well. I have a true percula, six-line wrasse and some soft corals in there. I do unplug the MJ900 when I feed my fish so they can catch the food before it floats away.

dileggi · #8 10/24/2007, 11:56 AM

In case it helps, I'm running a BioCube 29, with only one power head, angled towards the opposite front corner...diaganol through the tank, but the BC came with wet/dry and sump. I am not running a protein skimmer.

besl · #9 10/24/2007, 11:56 AM

I would be concerned that 800 gph from phs in a 29 gallon tank with sand substrate will cause a sand storm, particularly in a new system where bacteria and stuff hasn't yet developed in the sand bed. It is always better to have 2 phs than 1 (e.g. get more turbulent flow, if 1 dies you still have flow from the other until you get a chance to replace the broken one,e tc)... with a sand bed, I personally would aim more to 15x turnover rather than 27x - JMHO.