AC pump for reef tank

[danewguy]

When I was looking for wave makers to buy for my 30 gal I realized I have a couple of fluval cp3 powerhead from my freshwater tank.

Is it possible for me to use those instead of getting a new wavemaker? What im planning on doin is have all have a pair at both sides and aim it to the one across.
Will this be "turbulent" enough? also i have some smart plugs laying around so at night ill have a pair off.

Im mostly asking this since most of the forums ive gone too and advices i get are to just but a DC one that costs 150$ (CAD) for just one (hygger mini and jebao from amazon).

What im mostly getting at is what exactly do i get from them? Do the corals grow "better"?

Thanks for any advices.

NOTE: I have limited budget.

 

[spsick]

Nothing wrong with that at all! I had success for years, just using maxijets on an alternating timer schedule.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Sure it will work, wavemakers work in either freshwater or saltwater.

Water flow can be figured out by gph (gallons per hour). I believe a tank should have minimum 10X turnover, so you want a powerhead with 300 gph. Personally I feel 20x turnover is better, so that would be 600 gph. My own tank has about 40x turnover. The goal is water movement on the surface to help with gas exchange, and movement to eliminate dead spots as much as possible

Water flow is extremely important for many reasons. Since you are asking about flow in relation to corals, this article helps explain why flow is more important even than lights: https://reefs.com/magazine/water-fl...an-light-part-1-introduction-to-gas-exchange/