powerhead help

[jlfnjlf]

The tank,

A 30g tank with about 60# of live sand and 30# of live rock with some base rock under that. I am using a CPR clone hang on back refugium with the built in protein skimmer. I am also using 192W PC Aqualight, and I am using Instant Ocean salt.

The question,

I am considering adding 2 Zoo Med PowerSweep 214 or 226 powerheads to the tank one on each end.

For this setup what would be my best powerhead solution? What is to much GHP for this tank?

Thanks,

John

 

[Nu2SW]

Ahh the good ole question of how much flow and what is too much. It depends on what you want to keep.

I have a 50 gallon tank with 850gph flow in it. Thats 17x times flow. I mainly have zoas, a candy cane, GBTA, frogspawn and some xenia.

how much flow are those heads you want to use....

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I tried the PowerSweeps a year or so ago and they required cleaning about every to or three months (or they wouldn't sweep) and lasted less than a year. A partial explanation may be my high Alk and Ca levels, but I haven’t had any problems with MaxiJets. Of course they don't sweep, I use a wave timer instead.

As far as amount of flow, IME it depends on your tank’s shape, your aquascape and what corals you plan on keeping. Also as you are planning, a random flow is better than a constant fire hose. I would agree with Edwin, 15 to 20 times you tank volume per hour is a good starting point.

 

[Unarce]

Definitely save yourself the trouble, and avoid the PowerSweeps. They will work well with freshwater, and possibly saltwater applications (FO, FOWLR, softies). But, in a reef that has calcium requirements, you'll get very frustrated.

A cheap and reliable method would be the maxi/mini/micro-jets on a Natural Wave wavemaker.

 

[GreshamH]

I fully agree with the last two posts. MJ for sure. The powersweeps need constant attention. MJ is fairly plug and play.

 

[shilo_1]

I also discourage the powersweep. Go for a SEIO...a little more pricey than MJ, but use less power seem to produce mroe flow.
I have 2 620's in my 65g and could use another (or bigger ones lol.) You could probably get away with one, depending on what you want to keep.

 

[jlfnjlf]

So you guys are saying 2 300 GPH pumps would be acceptable for my 30G reef, or one SEIO 620 GPH?

WOW My discus would hate that kind of current.

 

[Nu2SW]

LOL yeah discus are slow flow loving creatures...

SW LOVE flow.... Ive seen tanks with more then 30X flow... Insane amount of water movement.

I would go with two MJ's or two sieo's but with less flow. So that way you can place them at different ends of the tank to create a better current flow.

If your gonna go with Mj's I would go with the 900's instead of the 1200's. Why you ask...the 1200's use 20watts of power while the 900's use 8.5watts.... they are 230GPH so you could go with 3 900's and be way under the amount of 2 1200's and that way you get 690gph.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7915948#post7915948 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shilo_1
I also discourage the powersweep. Go for a SEIO...a little more pricey than MJ, but use less power seem to produce mroe flow.
I have 2 620's in my 65g and could use another (or bigger ones lol.) You could probably get away with one, depending on what you want to keep.

I agree with Shilo, a SEIO is a great flow power head. However don't rely on them for your random flow. They often will not restart when placed on a wave timer. In my 90 I have an 1100 pointing across the tank from the back corner toward the opposite front corner. I then have Maxi Jet 1200's on a wave timer providing random flow into the SIEO's flow. If you want really good random flow Tunzi’s or a closed loop with something like an Oceans Motion device would work really great.

 

[jlfnjlf]

Edwin

OK I have a 295gph powerhead running my refugium would you suggest adding two MJ-900s or have a total of 4 powerheads in the tank?

Thanks,

John

 

[Nu2SW]

I'd leave the PH in the refugium that you have there. But 4 heads in a 30 may be a clutter, but the mj's are kinda small so it might not be 2 bad.

 

[jlfnjlf]

OK,

So now I have decided on a system that will cycle between 2 MJ PHs. I am going to use the Natural Wave Maker/Pump Timer by Aquarium Systems, but I am not sure if I should go with 2 or3 MJ-900 or 2 MJ-1200. At this point with the features of the Natural Wave I am thinking I will go with 3 MJ-900.

Thank you for all the advice.

John