Help with flow options on 4ft tank

[SaltyArms]

Hey all, I’m looking for some feedback on my thoughts for a 4ft tank (RedSea Reefer 350.)

There are a lot of examples out there for “SPS dominant”, but I’m looking for suggestions on a heavy SPS but with a few hammers, gonis, and maybe a few meaty corals on the sand.

My thought right now is a gyre pump on the left side shooting across the top, and two MP40s on the back wall (left and right of the overflow) pointing forward.

Having not owned any of these pumps… is this going to be too much for the hammers and gonis?

Would I be better off with MP10s and the wide flow cage on them instead?

This is the aquascape in question

 

[boacvh]

I dont think so. FWIW. I have 2 wavs and 2 gyres on my 4 foot 75g. Not heavy SPS, but My goni, alveopora, frogspawn, etc take full blasts and are doing very well. You can see some pics on my thread.

 

[Joe462]

I think you are going to want more than mp 10s if you are wanting to keep acropora. What i have done is put MP 40s on the ends but try to arrange them so the highest flow is toward the top of your tank where you are going to put the acros with maybe mp 10 or an mp 40 on a lower stetting near the bottom. then hope fully the low 1/3 where you want the lower flow coral has more gentle movement. the other option is just to look for places to put your lower flow corals through moving them around and finding those spots the flow isn't too high.

I have never used gyres but i would think you could either have mp 40s on both ends and a gyre in the middle pushing water accross the top or a gyre on one end and 2 mp 40s on the other. You will likely have to play with the arrangement and power of the pumps to get the flow how you want it.

my tank is a 6ft 150 and i have two mp 40s on one side and an mp 60 and mp 40 on the other, and i do what i imagine you are trying to do. i have acros mostly in the upper 1/3 in the middle third i have some torches and lower light acros, and on the bottom i have a bunch of hammers, blastos, chalices, and montis.

 

[Jekyl]

Not a fan of MP. Rather have pumps that I can change the direction.

 

[SaltyArms]

@Joe462 one of the main things I’m trying to avoid is the MPs or gyres on the right side glass. That faces toward the rest of the great room and is the angle viewed from the kitchen. So that’s kind of why I was thinking one gyre and then two mp40s on the back wall.

I know the “normal” thing to do is have a 40 on each end shooting at each other. If I HAVE TO I will but I’d rather not.

I guess the main thing is making sure the 40s aren’t too much blowing forwards on a 20” deep tank. There will be aquascape in the way a bit but there’s a high chance acros end up growing right in front of it. I just don’t have enough experience to know how much is too much.

coming from freshwater… I feel like my MP10 on my 20 cube is too much sometimes until I bump it up and everything increases color…

 

[SaltyArms]

I dont think so. FWIW. I have 2 wavs and 2 gyres on my 4 foot 75g. Not heavy SPS, but My goni, alveopora, frogspawn, etc take full blasts and are doing very well. You can see some pics on my thread.

How big are the gyres (you have an idea of what GPH they’re moving?)

I don’t have enough experience to know what gonis and hammers, etc can really take.

If this was a normal tank I could just do what everyone does and slap MP40s on each side panel and let ‘‘em rip. But that right pane is going to be awesome and make the tank feel much bigger if I can keep it free of equipment.

 

[SaltyArms]

Not a fan of MP. Rather have pumps that I can change the direction.

I’ve considered the Tunze wide flow options to place in corners. I think I’d need 4 of them though.

 

[madlos123]

I have a perfect example for you
Got 2 hydor gen3 2450 gph and 2 sicce xstreme 8000 (2100 gph) on my 90 gallon (regular Aqueon 90 gallon 4 feet). I got sps on the right and lps such as hammers on the left. My return pump is sicce adv 7 on the left.
You might need to play around with some rocks to block flow for your lps until your sps grows a little bigger to slow flow down.
The undercurrent also pulls the lps upwards in a more indirect manner.
Yes I have all AC pumps and have them constantly on so you will have to play around with water dynamics.
Affordable and moves water if you dont have the budget for a ferrari pumps lol.

Ps: my tank is only 6 months old.

 

[Joe462]

@Joe462 one of the main things I’m trying to avoid is the MPs or gyres on the right side glass. That faces toward the rest of the great room and is the angle viewed from the kitchen. So that’s kind of why I was thinking one gyre and then two mp40s on the back wall.

I know the “normal” thing to do is have a 40 on each end shooting at each other. If I HAVE TO I will but I’d rather not.

I guess the main thing is making sure the 40s aren’t too much blowing forwards on a 20” deep tank. There will be aquascape in the way a bit but there’s a high chance acros end up growing right in front of it. I just don’t have enough experience to know how much is too much.

coming from freshwater… I feel like my MP10 on my 20 cube is too much sometimes until I bump it up and everything increases color…

I see what you are saying, no experience with the gyres but can they push water all the way across the 4ft tank? I think I would be tempted to put 1 or 2 MP40 on the the one end and use 1 or 2 gyres on the back glass. The MPs can push a lot of water and having the gyres at the top are less likely to be putting to much direct flow on the corals? Putting an MP40 on the back glass of a tank unless it is really wide seems a waste. The gyres just seem better suited to the wide demention of the tank in my mind and the MP40 seems more suited to pushing the water the length of the tank to me, though I’m no expert. I’m sure you could make it work either way, as long as you can get good somewhat random flow it will work

 

[boacvh]

How big are the gyres (you have an idea of what GPH they’re moving?)

I don’t have enough experience to know what gonis and hammers, etc can really take.

If this was a normal tank I could just do what everyone does and slap MP40s on each side panel and let ‘‘em rip. But that right pane is going to be awesome and make the tank feel much bigger if I can keep it free of equipment.

I have a maxpect 350 Gyre in one side and a 250 on the other. The gyres box say they push 5200+ gph. I can tell you the amount of water a single gyre moves is unbelievable. I was actually surprised.
More than enough to cover 4ft length with very strong flow all around. With the other gyre on the opposing side you can create very random flow patterns.
My Gonis, hammer and frogspawn are all in very strong flow with no issues

 

[SaltyArms]

I have a perfect example for you
Got 2 hydor gen3 2450 gph and 2 sicce xstreme 8000 (2100 gph) on my 90 gallon (regular Aqueon 90 gallon 4 feet). I got sps on the right and lps such as hammers on the left. My return pump is sicce adv 7 on the left.
You might need to play around with some rocks to block flow for your lps until your sps grows a little bigger to slow flow down.
The undercurrent also pulls the lps upwards in a more indirect manner.
Yes I have all AC pumps and have them constantly on so you will have to play around with water dynamics.
Affordable and moves water if you dont have the budget for a ferrari pumps lol.

Ps: my tank is only 6 months old.

Good looking tank

I think after considering this today and now seeing how you’ve arranged your pumps, I’m leaning toward two gyres and two Neptune WAVs. Gyres on each end pushing at each other and the wavs on each side of the overflow to create turbulence.

This way I’ll be able to keep everything attached and controlled by the Apex vs needing Mobius, reefbeat, etc.

 

[X-37B]

I am a Tunze guy and love their pumps.
With that said I would look at 4 Jeabo ow-40's. I run 2 in my 120.
I also run ow-25's in my 45 frag and 20g nano.
IMO the controllers have more options than the Tunze.
I run all in else mode and wavve mode that creates very good random flow.
My 120 is sps dominant with 6 powerheads but I have had goni's and frogspawn on the BB with no issues.
I have a 20 head frogspawn in my 45 frag system.
Many do not like the Jeabo pumps but many eqhipment companies are using them for their pumps now.
Also you can get 4 Jeabo ow-40's for the price of 1 Tunze 6105 which ha e compairable flow.
I keep quite a few extras in stock as backup and have just recently had to replace one controller.
Thats only 1 issue in over 4 years.

They do not need to be hooked up to Apex as their controllers are quite good, i.o