Power head for 135g reef ?

[PCguy21]

Now that ive made my swap from my 55g hex to my 135 6ft tank i need to buy way more rock. A 4ft light fixture to match my 24 inch t5 fixture.. and i need more flow.

I dont have much flow going on it. the tank just jas dettious and stuff just settling on the sand bed and notjing moves except the spots i have the pointing pointing at. I have 2x 425 korelia power heads. And 2x top fin internal 40s with a eheim 350 surface skimmer.. It deff not enough flow but its all i have so i habe to strategicly place the spray bars on the internal filters and thd korelias in spots to keep it flowing.

Petco sells the higher gph korelia pumps. Im not sure how big they go up too.. but what do i need to get flow going in this tank ?

I dont want a whirlpool but i need more then what i have.. I was thinking of using the 425s pointing upward to create surface waves they seem to be enough for that if i place them in the middle but yes need new power head.

So what gph should i be shooting for ?

Corals i have are torch. Hammer. Frog spawns. 3 bubble corals. A neon green nepthea and regular green nepthea.. some acros chslices and zoas.. mushrooms too.. they seem fine in the flow i have.. but agaun the sand bed is kinda dead

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Gyre?

 

[PCguy21]

I dunno what that is ?? Explain ? I hsve two option for koralia... 1150 or 1500 gph.. was gonna get two one for each side. I just dunno if 1500 will blow my frogspawns and stuff around like crazy

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Gyre is a pump made with a linear flow rate pulling from the bottom & pushing from the top generating large flows. Many air flow fans use the design.
Do a search & you can find how they work. Maxspect is one.

 

[billdogg]

The general consensus is 20x+ for soft corals, 30-40x for LPS, and 40 and up for SPS dominant tanks. So for your 135 that you currently have a mix of LPS and SPS, I would suggest a combination of powerheads to get you in the 5500gph range for starters ~40x turnover). You can include the return pump in your calculations but I don't bother. I would place them fairly low in the tank and angled up so that the surface stays agitated at all times. There is a tremendous amount of oxygen exchange there at the surface.


When I started up my 120 (4x2x2) I used 4 x 1500gph koralias and they did a fairly good job but as my corals grew, it was clear that they needed better flow. That gave me ~50x turnover. I switched to a pair of Gyre 250's for a total of 10600gph at max output which equals ~88x. If they were both on max at the same time, it would be difficult to keep water in the tank so I have them on an alternating setting and maxing out at 60%. They are mounted on either side of my center overflow on the back of the tank. I also use a pair of 1500gph koralia's mounted low at the back edge of each side pointing up towards the overflow to keep good circulation behind the rocks.

To a point, more flow is good flow. If there are any dead spots in the tank they will be a detritus trap/nutrient sink that will end up causing you trouble.


hth

 

[reeferoo]

I have an MP40 throttled about 85% power (4500 gph at 100%) and a Korailia 4 (1200gph) on either side of my 120 and my LPS (frogspawn, duncans, acans, etc) are all cool. I put them both higher up in my tank. I have a big return pump (mag 12 to compensate for normal head loss with a chiller and whatnot) and the return has a circulating locline looking thing that points generally downish. The MP40 goes straight across in a random mode, the Koralia points a bit more forward to the front glass (so they don't blow right at each other).

I could see how lower pointing up would be good - maybe I'll move my Koralia sometime, but for now everyone is happy!

As a note - this is a 4ft tank, not a 6, so that might make a big difference.

 

[PCguy21]

I got two 1150 koralias.. i still need 80lbs or so more rock the 60 i have is from my 55g hexagon so its pretty bare right now.

The 1150s one on each end are blowing stuff around almost too much.. so i need to figire out better positions like pointing them up or something.

I put my 2 425s in the middle back of my tank blowing to thr front up to break the surface almost or create waves if that makes sense.

This tank has no sumo fyi.. its a 40 year old 135g tsnk built in 1982 alot of tanks back then had no sumps and werent drilled. Ive been very successfull with no sump in my 55g hexagon with 35 mixed corals. So im going to be doing it like this with my big tank as well. Currently the tank is at 3580 gph and that seems like almkst too much... but with more rock im sure itll change

 

[capecodder]

I have an MP and a gyre.... Love the gyre. Nothing's made a bigger difference for my tank.

 

[PCguy21]

Ill look into thr gyre then since a fee of you mentioned it thanks

 

[houstonreefer]

Another wavemaker is Icecap. i am happy with it.