water movement

[softbal4]

i am getting ready to make the transition of the corals from the 75 to the 220. I will be so happy when it is finally done. at any rate i have a question for all of you experts.

what type of powerheads and how many would your suggest i add? currently i have only 2 returns for water movement.

thanks jenny

[ostrow]

What are your returns and how are they returning?

[softbal4]

i have a mag 7 and a mag 10 from the refgium.

[ostrow]

For a 220? I'm assuming it's with built-in overflows right? You'll want a total of at least 2200 in the tank. Assuming your pumps are in the cabinet below, that Mag7 is giving you maybe 300 at the tank. The Mag 10 IIRC will be around 600 or so.

It all depends on if you want powerheads in the tank or if you want a big external pump circulating water. If the latter, I'd ditch the Mags (or at least one) and get something like a Reeflo Dart or equivalent. Split the return to several outputs, maybe swirl a couple.

If you go the in-tank method, well then you have lots of options like wait for the vortech, get a wavebox, or streams, or if you are diligent at cleaning Seios, but those aren't so reliable IME.

[whiirly]

did you ever consider a closed loop?get all those nasty PH out of your tank.Just a suggestion I am going with a CL and a wave box on my 180 upgrade.I have all the equipment but need to get it all set up

[softbal4]

to be honest. the plumbing is left to my cousin and dad because it is way over my head. i was thinking that i would need powerheads on the inside. ..but if i can just use stronger pumps would that be a better option?

i guess my question is would external pumps be a better option then internal powerheads?

[Evolley1]

I would highly suggest any Tunze product for water movement. I have a 6100 and a 6000 with the multicontroller 7095. It may be expensive...but well work the cost IMO. In addition to the streams I have a CL system working from a mag18. Your return line does not have to be ridiculously strong, too much of an effect on your sump, and too lound with the overflows. Most of your flow should happen inside the tank either w/ PH or CL. Mind you I have a 120 and I'd like to bump my Tunze 6000 to a 6100 by changed out the transformers. You can never have too much flow really. Food for thought

[examiner]

I don't think you are ever going to get the kind of in-tank flow you need if you rely upon the return pumps to do the job. Too many problems associated with that. (it's easier to deal with those issues if you have a 150g sump like Ostrow and have an external skimmer...those of us w/ smaller sumps and in-sump skimmers have found that less flow through the sump is often better).

I agree w/ Evolley, either big stream type pumps or a CL. If you stick to LPS/softies, you can skimp a bit, but SPS will require a sizeable investment in flow. On the low end, you can budget a couple hundred bucks for 2 or 3 of the largest Seios (and have the aggrevation that comes from taking the budget approach), or you can go all the way up to 800 bucks or so for a couple controllable tunzes. A nice CL would probably put you somewhere in the middle.

This is one area I really would do right. It's been my experience (both personal and through others) that the most succesful tanks all have pretty high levels of flow. More flow than you would probably consider at first thought.

[softbal4]

would a tunze stream 6060 and a tunze stream 6080 be way tooo much? could i get away with only one? thanks

[Sullyman]

I have a 6060 and 6080 in my 125 and it works well for me.
What type of corals are you planning on keeping?

[softbal4]

i would like to keep a little of everything. maybe only a few sps corals.

[Sullyman]

The 2 tunzes in my 125 is plenty of flow for SPS. If you're going to have a mixed reef, they would probably do the trick for you too.

[Evolley1]

I would always plan for future upgrades...therefore one of the controllable Tunzes would be better. In the end you will be able to control the output of the streams depending upon the controller or you will be able to upgrade the stream itself by changing the transformer.