4 Gyres and Sand

[Brandon0034]

I'm gathering the final equipment to set up my third tank which is a 150g(60x24x24) which will be SPS dominant. I already have two Maxspect 250's but considering getting two 230's as well. I'll put the 250's horizontal on opposing sides of the tank then considering running the 230's on the back wall, one on each side of the center overflow. Will this be way overkill? I just want to eliminate any possibility of dead spots and increase flow randomness.

Also I would prefer to have sand in the tank since I don't like the BB look. I've always used fuji pink but any suggestions on something maybe heavier thats still appealing to the eye and compatible with snails, gobies, etc.

 

[Hentz]

I have a Gyre 130 in my Reefer 170. I've always used the Special Grade from Carib Sea which is about 1-2mm in size. With mad flow in the tank, it's only moved when I had the gyre pointed in a bad spot which made the flow hit the corner of the glass and forced it down. Other than that, the spot I have it in now blasts my tank perfectly without disrupting the sand.

 

[Brandon0034]

I have two Gyre 250's set up in my 125g right now on opposite ends no problem with fuji pink but I'm wondering if four gyres will create problems. I'm also not sure if this will just be complete overkill. I would run the 250's on the ends in a random cycle, then the 230's on the back wall just a few hours a day.

 

[Hentz]

Its not overkill until you have tissue flying off corals! IMO, if budget easily allows, WHY NOT have that much crazy and random flow?! The more the merrier!

 

[MiddletoM]

i have two 250's on my 5x2x2, both set to random mode with max speed on both set to 20% which is more than enough flow for LPS. I think 50% would start to move the caribsea special grade but would be good for a mostly SPS tank.

I do have a few SPS frags that are high up on the rock work so they are exposed to the full 20% force of the gyres and all are doing really well.

My gyres are placed horizontally on each end of the tank about 1" from the water surface. The currents from each meet in the middle of the tank and get forced down. so effectively 2 gyres forming in my tank. SPS would be very happy in the middle where the two gyres meet.

If you imagine drawing the noughts and crosses lines on the tank and numbering them:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

1, 2, 3, 5, 8 - Good for SPS
4, 6, 7, 9 - Good for LPS

Note: My tank has two islands which encourage these currents to form but I think it would apply to most aquascapes with the gyres set up in the formation.

Hope that makes some sort of sense and is somewhat useful. The point im trying to make is I think 2 gyres would be perfectly capable of supporting an SPS system.

 

[Lsufan]

That will be a lot of flow & it would blow the Fiji pink around. Most people recommend caribsea special grade but I love tropic Eden sands . I would check into tropic eden reef flakes

 

[jda]

The two will probably be fine, but so would four. You do not need as much flow as possible - this is one of the big myths of SPS keeping... you need enough, but anything after that can just make your electric bill higher and fish more stressed.

For example, just a simple Tunze wavebox can be enough flow with a 1" wave from side to side. I have gotten tremendous uniform growth out of just this alone. However, I add a few more pumps in the 4000 range to blow away the debris and other junk that the wave will stir up.

The guys above are on the most imporant thing - a little random flow is better than all of the static flow that your tank can handle.