112 gallon reef tank Tunze powerhead amd return pump choice

[Gargamel35]

This is my 112 gallon reef tank. It's 51 inches long, 25.5 inches wide amd 21.6 inches high.

Photo

I'll have mostly Lps and some softys. Maybe couple easy Sps.
7 fishes and 2 schrimps.

I want SILENT equipment and enough flow. I use Tunze 1073.050 return pump and 2 x Tunze 6055dc powerheads on 2s pulse from 50% to 100%.

You can see how i positioned them on a photo.

Is this good enough setup, or would you recommend different setup/positions/different pumps? I'm thinking about adding another pump or maybe change 6055 to 6095.

 

[rvitko]

I think 2 6095 would be better in most cases, I think the overall pattern is good, but I think the 6055's will somewhat limit inhabitants to lower flow animals and you may have some dead areas as the flow is narrower. I usually like 6055 up to about 75/90 gallons and 6095 up to about 120 and 150 is kind a grey area depending on coral type, 180 is where I would move to 6105.

 

[Gargamel35]

How is the 6095 noise compared to 6055? I have 2 6055 and one is very silent. I can't hear it ramping up or down 1m from a tank. The other 6055 is louder. I can hear it ramping up or down and the power supply is buzzing also in the cabinet. I can hear it, when the room is really quiet.

How silent is 6095 in pulse mode and are there any other controllable Tunze power heads to check for up to 120 gallon and are dead silent?

 

[Gargamel35]

Would 2x 6150.000 (Stream 3) be a better choice for 110 gallon tank? I'm not sure about the size and i have very limited access to the back of an aquarium to put magnets on/off for maintenance...

 

[rvitko]

6150 could work and would be silent, but it is very strong for this size tank and much larger. The 6095 noise is pretty comparable to 6055, the propeller is larger and the flow is higher so their can be a very slight increase in noise but not more than 2 db.

 

[Gargamel35]

Is 6150 - stream 3 a lot quieter then 6095? Specialy in pulsing mode?

I think i can hide Stream 3 pretty good behind the rocks. If i understand correctly, it can run upwards or completely level. And since it has 2500l up to 15000l performance i would be running it around at around 50% or somewhere between 20% and 60% in pulse mode. Those numbers are then the same as 6095 on 70% to 100%. Or am i missing something here?

 

[rvitko]

The 6150 you really cannot hear, it is very quiet, but do you want a pump with double the size and you only will use half the flow? If it makes a big difference to you to have about 10db less, then I would say this is a good pump but it is much bigger, yes you can adjust the flow to the range you want.

 

[Gargamel35]

I must say i really hate any kind of noise in and around reef tanks.
I can take a constant humming noise of light fan and skimmer but i can't stand a ramping up/down noise every 2 seconds by powerheads. That was the reason i went for 6055, because it is very silent in pulse mode. Unfortunately, i was not so lucky with the second 6055 and i can hear switching of a pulse mode all the time, when the living room is really quiet.

Since i need a little more flow (specialy wider) i was thinking 6095 would be just right but i'm afraid i will hear it pulsing. And i'm planning to change skimmer for quieter one too, so i'll hear powerheads even more.

If Stream 3 provides dead silence in pulse mode, that is a huge plus for me. I don't mind running it on half power, because that means even less noise probably. I hope i can hide two pumps behind rocks and i also have black background. This is my main concern.

I'm not sure what to do so any help is appreciated.

 

[rvitko]

The 6055 which makes more noise I am not sure about what is wrong, power supply noise is very strange. Usually if a pump makes more noise the drive unit is the cause. The 6095 will really have about the same noise as 6055, if you average the two pumps, maybe closer to the quieter one, that will be the noise. 6150 in my opinion will look big and be hard to hide in a smaller tank, but it is really no noise, even the quietest things on the tank will be louder. If the tank was 50% bigger for sure I would recommend 6150.

 

[RCS82]

Just my opinion but basically all of Tunzes powerheads are virtually silent. In theory no equipment is 100% dead silent but many come real real close, and Tunze is one of them. I have 2 6095s on a 4' 90 gallon and run them on pulse mode 25% to 75% roughly, and they work great and I can't hear them. If you do have a noisy Tunze powerhead, depending on its age and abuse takin, I think you may want to discuss that with the manufacturer.

 

[Gargamel35]

Maybe my best bet is 2x 6095 and 7097 controller and NOT buying a quieter skimmer

How would you set up 2x 6095 or 2x 6150 with 7097 controller to make the best of them and get the best all around flow?

 

[RCS82]

If you are only running 2 powerheads in pulse mode you can just run them off their own controllers or you can just link their controllers together. I'm not a computer techy so I keep my equipment simple. I just run mine off there own controllers that they come with and leave them on pulse. If I had a bigger tank (coming soon) and running 4 powerheads and using the wave features then I would run them all under a multicontroller.

 

[Gargamel35]

I decided do buy 2x Tunze 6095 and 7097 controller for my 110 gallon tank. Because i'm using 2x Tunze 6055 right now without controller, i'll have 2x 6055 and 2x 6095 + 7097 controller on my disposal to use in my system.

Should i use 2x 6095 + controller (or even without controller?) or should i use all 4 pumps on lower power setting? Can you plug 4 pumps in 7097 controller and would that be a better choice then 2x 6095 on higher power?

Plus should i try to make waves with controller or just a random current?

 

[rvitko]

You could use 2 6055 for waves and 2 6095 for pulsed flow, in general the pulsed flow is more important. Also keep in mind with the waves comes splashing noises. I think the 2 6095 alone is enough but 6055 could be used to target specific areas.