New Aquarium Setup - Need Advice On Powerheads & Uv Steraliser

[judgek]

Hi,

I am in the process of planning my new marine tank setup. I have a 240L tank.

I have done a lot of research, but still have a few questions. My first questions are regarding powerheads. I am looking to have a reef system with about 40KG of live rock.

I believe I need to aim for around 30X circluation of the full tank volume. I believe I need around 4800lph.

1) How many would I need? I believe I would probably need 2?
2) How powerful would they have to be?
3) Would you need one more powerful, and one less powerful?
4) Where do you position them in the tank? (in opposite corners, aiming at rock, aiming away from rock?)
5) Tunze seem decent - which models should I be aiming for?


My next questions are regarding a UV Steraliser unit. I understand what it does and how it work, but I want to know about how you use one.

1) Where do you put it? I have a sump system, does the unit go into one of the compartments?
2) Does all the water going back into the tank, HAVE to flow through the UV unit first?
3) Is the UV unit like a pump?
4) Do you have it continually on, or only when adding new fish?


Any help will greatly be appreciated!!

 

[Musho3210]

Get two tunze pumps, two that will reach you to your gph goal, alternatively you could go with the tunze wavebox, pricey, but the flow is about as natural as you can get....

 

[Colin_T]

Try to have the pumps one up high and one down low on opposite ends of the tank. This will help to wash out the sediment from around the rocks. You can aim the pumps at the rock but not directly at corals. If you get something like the Tunze programmable pumps then they can be connected to a controller and produce a pulsing action. They come on for a few seconds then slow down, then speed up, etc. This creates a natural water movement in the tank and is beneficial to the corals. However, Tunze are a little expensive. Aquaclear do good quality pumps but they aren't variable and should only be used for general water movement in a tank. You can have them on a timer that comes on for a few hours before going off. This can provide some water movement at various times throughout the day. try to get a pump that has a cage or prefilter on it to prevent fish being sucked up. Aquaclear does a Quickfilter attachment that works well. Tunze have a mesh cage built into the pumps.

UV sterilisers are a container that water passes through. They expose the water to UV light, which kills off the things passing through it. They can go anywhere. Most people hang them in or outside their sump, depending on if it is a submersible model. You usually have a separate pump with a prefilter pushing the water through it. The cleaner the water going through the unit, the more effective the UV light will be at killing off the bugs.
For a UV unit to be effective you want all the tank water to flow through it. They are designed to kill things passing through the ultra violet light. If you have one on the tank it should be run all the time and all the tank water should go through it at least several times a day.
However, they are not necessary and in my opinion are not worth having on individual tanks. If you have a group of tanks that are connected to the same filter, then a UV unit can be used to prevent diseases from transferring form one tank to another. One a single tank if you get a disease it is in the tank and a UV unit will only lower the disease organisms in the water. It will not prevent disease outbreaks and not cure them for you. Quarantining new fish and good tank maintenance is the only way to prevent diseases in a tank. Save your money and put it towards decent pumps like the Tunze programmables.

 

[judgek]

Thanks for your advice.

Regarding the powerheads, I have decided that the Tunze 6025 and a Tunze 6045 will be decent enough for my setup.

However, after reading on other forums people have difficulties with fish being sucked into powerheads.

1) How true is this?
2) What do I do to prevent this?

Thanks.

 

[sweet_sorrow]

i have 3 tunzes on my 240litre tank, and no problems with fish being sucked into the powerheads

 

[Colin_T]

as a general rule only sick or dead fish get sucked onto the intake of powerheads and water pumps. Healthy fish are strong enough to swim away from it if they need to.
Tunze and most pumps have a plastic screen over the intake that stop course material, including fish, from being sucked into the pump.