Power Heads

[tahneen]

I was looking at powerheads and there was alot of things about revers flow, so what does this mean?
and also how much flow do i need for a FOWLR
I plan on setting one of these up and going to a reef after a year or couple montand
and what i the min tank for a six line and a clown because thats all i realy want
I have a 10g and a 25g long

 

[tahneen]

anyone???
and another question, will a PC 110w be good enogh when I upgrade to corals
maby some mushrooms, hammers, maby zoas

 

[Crazy fishes]

10x water turnover is the baseline but for a fish only the sky is the limit. Adding more flow for fish is not essential but they can handle most flow rates. Think in the ocean they are buffeted by all manner of currents. With regards lighting depends on the tank dimensions in particular depth; post these are I may be able to give you a more definite answer. If you upgrade to corals then you have to think of flow rate; mushrooms like slower flow whereas Zoas will cope with most but prefer slow-moderate flow. What does slow, moderate flow mean.... well 10x is generally considered slow flow whereas something like 25x flow is moderate. Saying this the subject is very difficult to understand and the focus of much discussion. I put those values in so you have some idea of what areas to look at. Note of cautious LPS like hammers, frogspawn maybe affected adversely by 25x flow rates so if you have them look for the tentacles to be fully extented and swaying gently in the currents. I had 25x flow rate and it was too much for the delicate frogspawn tissue as a result I have lost two heads!!
The forum seems a bit dead over the last few days......

Hope this helps

Regards

 

[n3ont3tra]

By 10x, we mean 10 times the tanks size in gph.
For example, with a 25g tank you would need 250gph for 10x flow

 

[bobf]

By 10x, we mean 10 times the tanks size in gph.
For example, with a 25g tank you would need 250gph for 10x flow

That's it exactly.

And to elaborate a little on the good summary Crazy fishes wrote, if you plan to keep corals then I would tend towards 20x as a minimum. The point about the different preferences of various corals is practically one of positioning, as much as it is flowrate.

Assuming you will have an amount of live rock in your tank, then there will be locations with very strong flow, in line with the 'mouth' of the powerheads, for example, and other areas with relatively little water movement. You will find that moving corals from one place to another will pretty quickly establish what they like best in terms of flowrate (and also the need for more or less light). Clearly you should start from an understanding of what you believe they need, but then refine that to the particulars of your tank.

 

[tahneen]

thanks guys
well I knew the wnole 20x min for reef sistem and was going to aim for about 500gph with two powerheads pumping out 270gph each
and my 100ltr is 30"x12"x12"
but im pretty much worrying about lighting because my god is it expensive
I was looking at metal halida lights a my lfs and they were 230 for 30" set up
so I ws like ebay here i come

 

[n3ont3tra]

You probably don't need metal halides unless you want a lot of hard corals. Most softies will do fine under T5's or PCs.

 

[tahneen]

hey neontetra thanks for the reply
I noticed you used maxi jet are they any good because thats what I plan on using for my setup

 

[n3ont3tra]

Maxijets provide alot of flow but it's all in one spot. They also use a lot more energy compared to SEIOs, tunze, and hydor koralias. For fish they will be fine, but corals generally like flow that's more spread out. I would just use a hydor koralia or a seio, to save on energy costs and you'll be fine.

 

[Crazy fishes]

On the topic of metal halide you do know that ordinary 'builders' metal halide units are ok to use; you just have to change the bulb to an aquarium bulb matched by power i.e. wattage. They are not as pretty as the pendents but they do exactly the same job. It is relatively cheap to do as well. A 150 watt would be brilliant since your tank is relatively shallow; in the middle LPS with softies radiating to the ends. I am going that way when my freshwater friends vacate my 180l/47g tank but I think I may add a T5 unit with 2x 45w actinics.

Hope this helps

Regards