tank flow issues for sps

[Darrin]

This will confuse you....

I've lost 2 small acro colonies this week and i believe it's because of my only vortech going out. I just bought it 3 months ago and am going to try to call the company to see if they can replace a part. But that is not the issue...

I want to see if I can improve my flow... Here is a diagram of my 200 gallon oceanic..

The current pumps are a gen expc40
little giant
iwaki 40rlxt

the iwaki feeds the green input from the sump. The gen x feeds the refugium and the little giant feeds the chiller. The last two take water from the sump and return it to the sump.

The only other pump is a rio 2500 internal that sits about 6 inches above the sand. The vortech was above the rio... close to the top. It is the blue square on the left.... The other three blue squares represent 3 more vortechs i would eventually put in when I get the $$$. The pink is the live rock, but it does not go all the way to the top...

Where the two red ovals are I was thinking of putting two korilia 8 magnums.

The tank length is about 7 ft. I was wanting to know if the koralias would be too strong, should i try something else, or teach the young padowan apprentice. I will listen at the feet of the masters...

 

[Darrin]

If i did it this way I might remove the rio... you guys tell me what to do though...

d

 

[CeeGee]

I would never put any piece of equipment with the name rio on it in my tank. They are known to fail and put your tank at great risk when they do.

 

[Darrin]

so what would you put in the tank?

d

 

[LISound]

In my small sps tank. I've found that having the flow oppose each other is best without any wave controllers. It creates random flow. Just aim the returns at each other forward toward the glass. you might want to put a tunze in the front corners facing towards the back of the tank just like you have the returns facing forward.

I would think you want more flow than you currently have if this is an all SPS tank.

 

[austin93]

I have setup my tank in a similar matter as LISound has mentioned and have gotten very good chaotic flow. I watch the polyps flow and they keep switching directions every few seconds. I have seem improved polyp extension since making this change from the SCWD I was using before.

 

[Darrin]

so just point the two returns towards each other?

that seems like it would leave 90% of my tank with deadspots... like in the left and right sides....

d

 

[Rouselb]

I have a 200 gallon. There are 2 ways that work best for me.
1. Place 4 PHs on the back wall pointing straight forward at the front glass.
2. Place 2 PH's on each side of the tank pointing the length of the tank. (You need 4 PHs, 2 on each side of the tank).

Using the return pump is not a good way to generate flow IMO.

 

[CeeGee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14570026#post14570026 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Darrin
so what would you put in the tank?

d

any other pump than one made by RIO

I personally use Tunze streams but they are $.

 

[sanababit]

koralias

sana

 

[Rouselb]

I used Rio and Seio for some time when i first started. They will work. I use Seio in my frag tank today. I have two of them for the 100 gallon tub. Im using the 1500s. You can get one for $50-60 at most LFS. I use Tunze Streams in my main tank. They are 6200s, you could also use the Vortech it is $420. You might be able to get away with 2 vortech or 2 streams 6100s if you have the cash, if not, look to some of the others mentioned. Also you can try different brands, they dont all have to be the same. The flow from the Seio is pretty good. Might want to see if your LFS use them, mine did.

 

[BradR]

Would love to see pix of your tank, sounds nice. Mine is about the same size and I plan to run two 6305's, one 6200, and two 6100 tunze's.
If you prefer you could try some maxi jet 1200's with the propellors on them but you're looking for 20-50x tank volume of flow capacity.

 

[ati70cutlass]

ive used rio pumps for over 7 years with only ONE failure in that time. i went on vacation and my rio hf 20 prop went out. now 4 years later my rio hf32 is still working just fine. i have had my current powerheads for 4 years as well. they are two seio 1000s and 2 seio 820s . never have they let me down. on the othe hand i just recently had a mj1200 come un connected from the motor and shock the whole tank. i havent had tunze yet, but coming from 7 years of useage im gonna say rio does not have a bad reputation and that your statements are just that , opinions. which we all are entitled to.