Floating crud.

[cartoonbear]

There is a ton of floating crud in the water and it just keeps getting blown around by the powerheads instead of going down my overflow. It is placed in the center and the left powerhead is pointed towards the right front corner and the powerhead on the right is pointed towards the teeth at the top of the overflow. Both of the powerheads are connected to the back wall. I am pretty sure that it isnt just sand because I will turn off or move the powerheads the problem continues.

Do you have any suggestions to get this crud down the overflow?

 

[alexb518]

yeah, i do have a few suggestions. pointing your power head at the over flow will give you the opposite effective, at least, for the most part. the crud (so described) will never make it in there b/c it is being "pushed off." try making it so the flow of the two power heads meet somewhere in front of (no towards or aimed at) your over flow. or, conversely, try pointing both the power heads in the direction of your outside walls, which will blow everythign towards the middle and create a "flat spot" where the over flow is, where it can be sucked down. question for you though--is the a bare bottom tank? what's your setup, cuz there might be soemthing else behind this

 

[drummereef]

Do you run a skimmer? And do you have any overflows on the tank? Pointing some flow at the water surface will help but won't eliminate the prob. Skimming would be the first area to look into.

 

[Jorgens]

I have the same issue..taggin a along. Skimming can't be much of an issue if one hs a skimmer in the sump? we need to get the crud down to GET skimmed....

right?

good topic

 

[cartoonbear]

I do have a skimmer, I also have a filter sock, and an overflow.

Since the overflow is in the middle would you suggest putting the powerheads close to the overflow and pointing them to the outside corners? meaning the powerhead on the left point to the front left corner and vice versa

no the tank is not a BB, but I dont seem to see any sand being pushed around, how can I make sure of this?

thanks for the help so far

 

[UnderCoverDork]

just sounds like you need more surfave aggitation/movment

 

[Randall_James]

trial and error... you just need to keep readjusting the powerheads until the flow at the surface goes to the skimmer box. I start with a circular pattern and go from there aiming 1 powerhead at a time and watching how it reacts. Tedious I know, but rewarding :lol:

 

[cartoonbear]

I tried putting them close to the center and pointing them toward the outside front corners, but that didn't seem to help and the corals stopped getting flow. Now I have them connected to the left and right sides of the tank both pointed towards the opposite front corners of the tank. I do not think this is solving the problem either. If I am able I will post pics to see if a clearer view of the situation will help you guys help me.

 

[cartoonbear]

might it be a good idea to put both of the powerheads on the same side of the tank?

 

[OldSchoolNewbie]

It is very important to aggitate the surface of the water, this is where all of your gas exchange is done. The placement of your powerheads will be far better if you aim each so that you basically have them crashing into each other at a certain spot, while also having each pointing slightly towards the surface to create as much surface disruption as possible. I believe this will help to break up the tension of gasses being created on the suface, in turn you will see a noticeable difference of that cloudy/oily appearance, and with the added benifit of increased gas exchange.

 

[cartoonbear]

there is no cloudy/oily appearance and the powerheads are pointed upward. Im sorry i should have specified. The stuff that I am seeing float around are little leftover shrimps from the last time I fed and other random white stuff (which may be sand, but i do not see any moving).