120 Gallon sps powerhead suggestion

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plecosword

New member
I dont know what to get, I think the koralia evolution are the most efficient and smaller. I was thinking of addidng a controler also.
 
I was wondering the same. I also have a new 120. I have a Koralia 1050 and need more flow. Leaning toward Tunze. Maybe the 6105. One or two, I don't know. Help!!
 
Sorry but I am wondering this same thing also, I am setting up a 125 6 foot tank and I am thinking of doing 4 koralia 1400s, any thoughts to what flow would be good in a sps dominated tank?
 
Baldguy said:
I was wondering the same. I also have a new 120. I have a Koralia 1050 and need more flow. Leaning toward Tunze. Maybe the 6105. One or two, I don't know. Help!!
Click to expand...

Not enough?! I was thinking of getting that one. Another thing I have been wondering is how to cover the pump from anemones.
 
On my 120 I just set up two evo 1400 on a timer with two tunze on a timer. The evos are dead quiet while the tunze clatter a bit on start up. I plan to replace them with either 750 or 1050 and run the tunze down lower constantly.
 
The only bad thing i see about the ebay ones is the suction cups tend fail fairly quickly in a reef environment. I Have a pair of 1050s in my 75 and they are ok, but not impressive. Plus one of mine broke off the stopper on the front and started running backwards, I have emailed customer service but after sending them my address, a month later still waiting for the part. The mp40s look sweet but very pricey. The Maxijet mods work well but a controller shortens their life considerably. Anybody had any experience with the new Maxijets?
 
karsseboom said:
there the best pump in the world how would you not want them?
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price.

rayn said:
On my 120 I just set up two evo 1400 on a timer with two tunze on a timer. The evos are dead quiet while the tunze clatter a bit on start up. I plan to replace them with either 750 or 1050 and run the tunze down lower constantly.
Click to expand...

I think this gives me another reason to go with the evolution. I thought two 1050s would be too much?
 
I think it really depends on how you aim them. With a sps dominant tank, I'm not sure you can have to much flow, with a lps you can. If I run the two 1400, then the two tunze constant, add one 750 and one 1050 my turn over is still 53 times. While that is good, still not sure for a sps tank. I would think two on each end, two in the back. If you got them on a timer then you could make a little wave action too
 
OP - If you're looking to have an SPS tank, you're going to need quite a bit of evoloutions. I've noticed koralia over rates their gph and the red stick that connects to the magnet can easily be broken. I've broken a few in the past...

Two mp40's and call it a day. Adjustable flow, various settings for waves, wide flow output and a smaller footprint in the tank.
 
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rayn said:
I think it really depends on how you aim them. With a sps dominant tank, I'm not sure you can have to much flow, with a lps you can. If I run the two 1400, then the two tunze constant, add one 750 and one 1050 my turn over is still 53 times. While that is good, still not sure for a sps tank. I would think two on each end, two in the back. If you got them on a timer then you could make a little wave action too
Click to expand...
Rayn (and the OP):

Just for another data point, in my 50g breeder, a densely packed SPS reef with several large (mostly Monti.) colonies, I'm up to about 78x tank volume in circulation, running three Tunze 6045's plus return flow. Tunzes are on a 16 minute A/B cycle courtesy of my Reefkeeper. I feel this is barely adequate (based on how happy the mushrooms are that sneaked in there and that I still have some detritus settling. I guess the point is that "enough flow" depends heavily on your circumstances. My tanks have needed drastically different flow during different phases of their grow in. Almost none at the beginning up to what seems ridiculous (and still barely adequate) today. :-)

Another point - I've tried running this tank on MP40's and the flow was just awful no matter where the pumps were placed or what mode they were in. I've got them (a pair of well-used rev.1 MP40's) in a parts box next to the tank now. A small part of their problem was that one of the pumps had considerably more wear than the other and vibrated badly. I believe the wet sides need to be replaced on both pumps - or at least rebuilt. Which leads me to mention another feature I'm not too keen on with the Vortech pumps - their wet side assemblies seem universally flimsy. When a Cerith snail found its way into one of my Tunze pumps, it just stopped or ran backward. The same type snail climbed into a friend's MP10 recently and it sheared off a propellor blade! Just personal experience, but I know people go through these wet sides (whether rebuilt or replaced) like they are disposable. I don't like that. If I were going to step up to the next price point from my 6045's it would be for controllable Tunzes. However, I see adding another 6045 (I love that they are now also flow-adjustable) or two before stepping up a price point.

Last points. Water flow from Tunze pumps tends to have a longer reach than other designs, as well as being a bit narrower flow pattern. (About a 1' x 4' cone for my 6045's.) This gives them a capacity for directability that has been crucial for my tanks. Vortechs and the Koralias produce nearly identical very-wide, short flow patterns and are either entirely or mostly non-directable. I'm sure this could be useful situationally (especially on new, mostly empty tanks or maybe smaller tanks), but I only use Koralias to mix salt and they are outstanding in this function. I would never use a Maxijet style pump for mixing again. Having mentioned MaxiJet's I'd be remiss in not pointing out they are sold as MaxiJet Pro's now and include a conversion kit for circulation use. Hard to beat the economy ($/gph) of these. Magnetic mounts can be purchased, but then you're into Korallia price-range. MaxiPro's flow pattern is similar to a Koralia or Vortech.

Again, just my experiences and thoughts.

-Matt
 
plecosword said:
price.



I think this gives me another reason to go with the evolution. I thought two 1050s would be too much?
Click to expand...

well you need about 60x turnover rate in the main tank not counting the return. You cant just throw powerheads in the tank the sps need wide random flow which you cant get unless you go with tunze or vortech. If vortech are to expensive maybe keeping sps is not for you.
 
karsseboom said:
well you need about 60x turnover rate in the main tank not counting the return. You cant just throw powerheads in the tank the sps need wide random flow which you cant get unless you go with tunze or vortech. If vortech are to expensive maybe keeping sps is not for you.
Click to expand...

That's why I said I would use a controller, wouldn't using two Koralias with a controller be the equivalence of two mp40? the return pump's flow is maybe 250 gph when it gets to the top. I though a controller would be a better investment because I also need light timers and moonlights.
 
Well 2 k4 is about 1400x2 so about 2800 gph. You have a 120 gal tank so you need way more flow than that, Atleast 7200 gph running through that tank not including your return. You would need 6 k4 hooked up to a controller to have good flow in the sps tank.




Or 2 mp40s


when i say k4 i mean koralia 4
 
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