Koralia pump question

S

swaquarium

Reefing newb
I've got a 180 FOWLR running. Established and starting to add fish etc. At this point I'm looking to add some wavemakers / power heads into the tank for circulation. My question is how many and how powerful should I add? Should I add 2 koralia 1400's? or 4 x 1050 ( 740 )? Have a very few SPS and LPS.

Recommendations?

Thx
 
You want your tank turned over at least 20x, preferably 30x-40x per hour. It is very important that you get good flow in your tank ASAP, without any flow your dissolved oxygen water levels will be very low and your fish could be suffocating.
 
little fish I'm not sure what you are referencing. I'm running a mag 18 and pushing prob 1400 gph or turning the tank 8 times. Were are you coming up with 20x or 30x or 40x? That's ridiculous. All books, messages experts say 8 to 12. more than that and you aren't giving your water long enough over your filtration and to turn a tank 40x? Are you kidding?

My fish, corals etc are all fine. My water parms are good and i don't have any issues.

With advice like that from a moderator I think i'm deleting this forum / site.

Sorry but i've been doing this 15+ years and 20 to 40 times makes NO SENSE.
 
20 to 40 times is pretty standard. Are you really only using a return pump as your flow and no powerheads?

I'm not sure what experts and books you are referencing, here's a thread from another forum -- most people that posted in it are getting 40 to 50 times turnover:

Flow rates and water turnover rates - The Reef Tank

Here's a thread from another forum. In this thread, people post that they have 20 to 60 times turnover.

The perfect flow for a mixed reef tank

Here's a third forum that says a minimum of 20 to 30 times turnover is required, with a heavily stocked reef tank needing up to 100 times turnover:

Basics of Flow - 3reef Forums

Here's another one (from the largest reefing forum on the internet) that says the ideal turnover for a tank with SPS is 60 to 100 times:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1156388

If you want to "delete this forum" for saying that type of turnover is preferred, then you are going to have to delete every other forum out there too, apparently, because they are all saying the same thing. This is very common knowledge and not ridiculous at all.

Less than 10 times turnover is extremely low.
 
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This is a photo of my tank, its is turned over 36x times per hour. Clearly I dont have a problem growing corals or filtering my tank. Do you really thing the ocean is that still all the time? If so, id like to know where, it would be a whole easier to go snorkling or diving

DSC_0107.jpg
 
Here's my tank, mostly softies and LPS, with some SPS. Keep in mind, softies and LPS need the lowest amount of flow. About 66 times turnover in my tank, and that's for low flow corals. This makes "no sense"? Looks pretty good to me. I used four Koralias (1050 gallons per hour each) plus the return from my sump, which is a Mag 18 (1800 gallons per hour). On a 90 gallon tank.


DSC_0183-1.jpg


DSC_0052.jpg


DSC_0106.jpg


DSC_0105.jpg
 
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swaquarium said:
little fish I'm not sure what you are referencing. I'm running a mag 18 and pushing prob 1400 gph or turning the tank 8 times. Were are you coming up with 20x or 30x or 40x? That's ridiculous. All books, messages experts say 8 to 12. more than that and you aren't giving your water long enough over your filtration and to turn a tank 40x? Are you kidding?

My fish, corals etc are all fine. My water parms are good and i don't have any issues.

With advice like that from a moderator I think i'm deleting this forum / site.

Sorry but i've been doing this 15+ years and 20 to 40 times makes NO SENSE.
Click to expand...
Don't ask questions and get all snooty. We are all here to help one another, and if that's the kind of person you are then you should alt + f4.
 
One of the hardest things to hear in this hobby is your doing it wrong.

Hearing this from a store should be taken with a grain of salt, because they want to sell you things. On the forums however, were not here to sell you product, were here to share advice and stop people from making the same costly mistakes we have made.

You may have been in the hobby for 15+ years, but miss biff has been in the reef game for 12 years and had one of the most spectacular tanks i have EVER seen. Show some respect, they are only trying to help you.
 
Thanks for the links biffer, it made for some good reading. I actually stopped by the lfs on my way home today to talk about flow and filtration. I initially read that your filtration should flow about 6x and that 2 filters would be better because you could alternate changing the medium in them and minimize losing good bacteria. Does that also mean that 12x would be a good target for "filtered flow"?

My tank is still under constrution, right now i have a Marineland Emperor 400 and an Aqueon 700 gph circulation pump. About 3 days ago i added 80lbs of live sand. I was thinking about adding about 30lbs of live rock and a protien skimmer next but the guy at the store says my filtration was lacking and a second Emperor would be a good next step and buy some base rock to be populated later by the sand and a skimmer could wait until i was ready for some livestock. Lastly, i think my circulation pump is smallish for the tank i was gonna take it out and use it for mixing saltwater and buy a Koralia 1400 for the tank. I am on a bit of a budget but i'd rather do it right than rush it.

What do you guys recommend?
 
I recommend a protein skimmer over any other type of filters. Unless kept very clean (cleaned weekly) filters tend to lead to high nitrates and they are not a preferred piece of equipment for saltwater tanks. If you get a decent protein skimmer, you shouldn't need any Emperor-type filters (well, you shouldn't need one anyways :)).

Go with a protein skimmer for sure. As for the rock, you want to have 1 to 2 lbs per gallon -- this can be a mix of live and dry rock as the dry rock eventually turns live.

It's always handy to have an extra powerhead around for mixing water. I think you will need two powerheads in a 55 gallon tank though (usually people have one in each back corner).
 
woohoo!! more stuff to buy. who says guys dont like shopping lol

i got curious today and tested my water and came up with the following...
ammonia .25ppm nitrate 15ppm pH 8.0 nitrite 5.0+ppm
 
Bifferwine said:
Here's my tank, mostly softies and LPS, with some SPS. Keep in mind, softies and LPS need the lowest amount of flow. About 66 times turnover in my tank, and that's for low flow corals. This makes "no sense"? Looks pretty good to me. I used four Koralias (1050 gallons per hour each) plus the return from my sump, which is a Mag 18 (1800 gallons per hour). On a 90 gallon tank.


DSC_0183-1.jpg


DSC_0052.jpg


DSC_0106.jpg


DSC_0105.jpg
Click to expand...

not to hijack but bitterwine that tank is pretty amazing if you ask me
 
cvcdrk said:
Biff are you ever going to start another tank? :-)
Click to expand...

Yes, eventually. But it will probably be a smallish all-in-one system. One of the nicer, higher end one that I don't have to buy any extra equipment for or make any modifications to. Probably not any time soon! :)
 

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