Best powerhead position and location?

[curiel909]

Hello everyone!

I'm wondering... what would be the best position and location for powerheads?

I have 2 Hydor Koralia 425GPH, one on each end facing slightly towards the front of my 40 gallon.

I also have the return nozzle facing a bit up to simulate waves (return pump in the sump is a 400 GPH).

Thanks!

 

[lapin]

Sounds like they are already in good positions.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Hello everyone!

I'm wondering... what would be the best position and location for powerheads?

I have 2 Hydor Koralia 425GPH, one on each end facing slightly towards the front of my 40 gallon.

I also have the return nozzle facing a bit up to simulate waves (return pump in the sump is a 400 GPH).

Thanks!

Pic shows them facing down not up.. thays a pretty good basic staring point. I’m not super familiar with that powerhead so can’t give 100% definite positions.. but something I’ve recently found in larger tanks with similar widthxheightxdepth ratios is to put one slightly larger head on side like you have running continuous stream cross tank at as high a flow as sand can tank withough disturbing while placing the other slightly smaller on back glass opposite side at about 1/3 position and using fast pulsing. This works great for wavemakers that can not communicate and alternate with each other.

For example in my 125g I used to run two PP8 like you are and would use 30second alternating flows. One max for 30 then off while other was max for 30 then off. Worked great. Pp8 in sons tank died and I moved one of mine temp and decided to upgrade mine to pp15. New pumps won’t comminicate with old ones and new ones also won’t run on old controllers even though pp6-15 use same controllers typically.

End result after 2 weeks of blowing sand everywhere in my tank I finanaly got this setup. I’m running that pp15 on side cross flow at 80% power and moved the other po8 to back glass at 1/3 position on lowest possible wave pulse mode. I’m getting abkut the same overall performance I had before with dual pp8’s alternating.

I judge my flow based on crushing up flake food into fine crumbs and putting into take and watching how it’s moved about while also observing rifts in the sand over 24h period. This seems to be a good setup and will use as a base for all future builds where my pumps won’t communicate with each other and allow alternating flows.

One thing I wills add.. the way your rock is setup dead center only I would consider placing it a little over 1/3 on back glass just off edge of the rock to help the dead spot that the leading edge of the rock will make on one side. I would even consider putting both one back off each edge of the rock tbh and turning the flow down. You’d be surprised how well glass can distribute the flow sideways and this will prevent deading around that small structure. If it were longer I’d say one on side and one back glass opposite side of rock facing forward for sure.. you’ll have to play with it a little using things you can see to observe flow while keeping flow as high as possible wo moving sand.. it’s a fine balance but somewhere between what you have already and the options I’ve mentioned will give the right combo.

 

[curiel909]

Pic shows them facing down not up.. thays a pretty good basic staring point. I’m not super familiar with that powerhead so can’t give 100% definite positions.. but something I’ve recently found in larger tanks with similar widthxheightxdepth ratios is to put one slightly larger head on side like you have running continuous stream cross tank at as high a flow as sand can tank withough disturbing while placing the other slightly smaller on back glass opposite side at about 1/3 position and using fast pulsing. This works great for wavemakers that can not communicate and alternate with each other.

For example in my 125g I used to run two PP8 like you are and would use 30second alternating flows. One max for 30 then off while other was max for 30 then off. Worked great. Pp8 in sons tank died and I moved one of mine temp and decided to upgrade mine to pp15. New pumps won’t comminicate with old ones and new ones also won’t run on old controllers even though pp6-15 use same controllers typically.

End result after 2 weeks of blowing sand everywhere in my tank I finanaly got this setup. I’m running that pp15 on side cross flow at 80% power and moved the other po8 to back glass at 1/3 position on lowest possible wave pulse mode. I’m getting abkut the same overall performance I had before with dual pp8’s alternating.

I judge my flow based on crushing up flake food into fine crumbs and putting into take and watching how it’s moved about while also observing rifts in the sand over 24h period. This seems to be a good setup and will use as a base for all future builds where my pumps won’t communicate with each other and allow alternating flows.

One thing I wills add.. the way your rock is setup dead center only I would consider placing it a little over 1/3 on back glass just off edge of the rock to help the dead spot that the leading edge of the rock will make on one side. I would even consider putting both one back off each edge of the rock tbh and turning the flow down. You’d be surprised how well glass can distribute the flow sideways and this will prevent deading around that small structure. If it were longer I’d say one on side and one back glass opposite side of rock facing forward for sure.. you’ll have to play with it a little using things you can see to observe flow while keeping flow as high as possible wo moving sand.. it’s a fine balance but somewhere between what you have already and the options I’ve mentioned will give the right combo.

Thank you for the information!

I just installed, a Current USA Orbit LED light and it has the Loop system which i might install their power heads with the system to be able to control them with one remote.

I really appreciate the information and you taking the time to share your experiences.

 

[sfin52]

using string or one of those floating jellies works well to. I think the jelly idea I got from @Scurvy

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Thank you for the information!

I just installed, a Current USA Orbit LED light and it has the Loop system which i might install their power heads with the system to be able to control them with one remote.

I really appreciate the information and you taking the time to share your experiences.

Thier powerheads work decent but not worth the piece imop.

Thier lighting is great for freshwater.. but your corals are going to want more. Most people if seen running obit lighting end up having to run two. When you add up the price there are so many better options out there. Obit has a great sales pitch with powerhead a light combos working from a single device and they feature pack the hell out of it in terms of customization and usability.. it’s cause they are making up for at best an over priced medium range product.

Anyone trying to sell me a lighting storm function in a light and I’m out the door..

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Thier powerheads work decent but not worth the piece imop.

Thier lighting is great for freshwater.. but your corals are going to want more. Most people if seen running obit lighting end up having to run two. When you add up the price there are so many better options out there. Obit has a great sales pitch with powerhead a light combos working from a single device and they feature pack the hell out of it in terms of customization and usability.. it’s cause they are making up for at best an over priced medium range product.

Anyone trying to sell me a lighting storm function in a light and I’m out the door..

It will get you started but I wouldn’t invest anymore into the setup. I’d start saving for a replacement.

 

[Jettareefer223]

Get some JEBAO’s man they’re awesome. I run a lot of them super strong wave function is amazing, reliable, cheap. I run them on all my service clients tanks I replaced all the lame gyre/Vortech I installed over the years.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

Get some JEBAO’s man they’re awesome. I run a lot of them super strong wave function is amazing, reliable, cheap. I run them on all my service clients tanks I replaced all the lame gyre/Vortech I installed over the years.

They are great.. I just replaced in on a tank and found out they changed the software in the new models so new ones will no longer pair with older models.. took me 2 weeks to figure out how to reposition since I can no long lose them and use the 30sec alternating feature.. I’m not very pleased with them right now.. there was zero need for this change.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

They are great.. I just replaced in on a tank and found out they changed the software in the new models so new ones will no longer pair with older models.. took me 2 weeks to figure out how to reposition since I can no long lose them and use the 30sec alternating feature.. I’m not very pleased with them right now.. there was zero need for this change.

Should add I don’t know if this is across the board as only one I’ve got is a pp15 to replace a pp8 on a 125g that I had to use to replace the one pp8 on my sons tank that stopped working entirely after two years.. controller was good pump was done. My new pp15 won’t communicate with my older pp8 which it should cause pp6-15 all use same controller.

 

[Jettareefer223]

I love the PP’s !!