Pump position in 92-corner tank?

[Kerstin]

And a cheery hi there to all!

I have been playing for years with my powerhead position, and would love to have some input. The problem is that the sand gets blown away in the front of the bow front and so along the bow front I have a high sand bed on the right and left with a tremendous dip in the center - to the tune of being only about an inch deep there).
I have a 92-gallon corner tank (i.e. a triangular bowfront) with a mixed reef tank. I have been battling the problem for a while, which is trying to figure out where to position my MP-40 Powerheads so that the least amount of sand is blown all over.
I for quite a while tried having a powerhead on each side of the tank near the front of the straight glass (pretend the tank is a triangle with the bow front the hypotenuse - the MP40's are on the non-hypotenuse sides, close to where they meet the hypotenuse). I would play with various settings and speeds, and with sync as well as anti-sync and it would work for a while, but then"¦
Now I am using a Reeflink and with varying settings and speeds, and the problem isn't any better; in fact, it seems worse.
This past weekend I finally tried the "put both power heads on the same flat side) show for a triangular tank in the user manual (had to rearrange some rocks to make this work) but it still blows sand.

I have also tried putting rocks in my sand bed to buffer the sand - no luck (I like having some clear sandbed in the center, with the rocks in front of the straight sides), but in an effort to stop the sand blowing, this is not possible, it seems.

HELP - any suggestions for better positioning or programming/speeds is greatly appreciated - it is currently driving me up the wall!

Thanks, Kerstin

 

[myram]

I'm with ya on this............my 54 bowfront with 2 MP10's.

I have each MP10 centered on the sides and 6" from the top, and I have them at about 75%. My return from my sump is blowing center of the bow, but up with a fan tip on.....to agitate the surface.

These tanks are a struggle to get good flow in with the MP pumps, not being able to aim the flow makes it a PITA.......but the pumps are still the best.

 

[Kerstin]

r.e. Powerhead positioning

r.e. Powerhead positioning

Thanks for your input. I hadn't tried centering on each side - will give that try. I agree about it being a PITA, but I also agree that I love the powerheads.

Thanks - I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Jeff210]

I have 2 MP40's (and a Gyre) in my 210. I have the same problem with blowing, drifiting sand. After much tweaking on placement, I have resigned myself to thinking that a couple sand dunes (low spot here, high spot there) looks more like a 'natural' ocean bed :lol:

I trade off the dunes with the knowledge that I am getting excellent circulation and no ded spots. Cyano looks worse to me than the dunes...

 

[myram]

You can see my placement in the picture, but there is a lot of flow in the middle from the reflection of the bowfront.

 

[Kerstin]

I like the tank look - really nice!
I also see that you have much less of a dip in the center of the tank...I think a few small dunes aren't bad, it is just the huge dip in the center...
Below is a picture of my tank from May, but the general layout is the same...as you can see, the dip in the center is just a bit extreme...hence my questions.

I will try centering the powerbeads more this weekend. This past weekend I moved them both to the left straight wall - one on each side of the overflow - and it is still trying to do the same extreme dip in the center.

 

[myram]

I would say move them up higher on the glass, closer to the surface.
A lot of it depends on your sand too, if you have a super fine sugar sand......it will blow around much easier than a more course sand.

 

[Kerstin]

I probably do have a reasonably fine sand (compared to what I see of yours).

Just curious - about how far down do you have your powerbeads on the glass? Because mine aren't that far down, believe it or not...maybe 5 inches from the top of the glass.

 

[myram]

I probably do have a reasonably fine sand (compared to what I see of yours).

Just curious - about how far down do you have your powerbeads on the glass? Because mine aren't that far down, believe it or not...maybe 5 inches from the top of the glass.

I have mine 6" down from the surface of the water to the top of the cage of the powerhead.