Issue with flow in peninsula tank?

[Bacon505]

I’ve been running peninsula tank in all my setup and the most challenging thing i have encounter is finding the right flow for an sps system. Having all powerhead on one side of the tank can be difficult to get a good flow at the end of the tank. What’s your input and experience with flow in peninsula tank?

 

[dank reefer]

I'd put 2 Gyres on the end as they can reach the end of the tank pretty easy and run separate programs for each pump instead of alternating/anti-sync.

Or 4 controllable pumps 2 top, and 2 bottom also running different schedules to create random/chaotic flow.

If you size the pump right, plenty of flow can be achieved with out having to put pumps on the viewing side of the peninsula.

 

[gotmesalty77]

+1

 

[Radman73]

+2

 

[Bacon505]

I have 2 gyre 230, 2 jebao ow 50 and 1 jebao ow 40 and i still feel like im not hitting the acro with enough current on my 160g

 

[dank reefer]

If you have sand, and your able to see the slightest amount of sand moving on the other end of the tank, then you should have proper flow.

 

[Bacon505]

mine setup is a bare bottom. there are decent flow at the end of my 60" tank but not strong enough that i want for my sps at the end. maybe my power heads aren't in the right placement.

 

[stacksoner]

This was the biggest headache with my peninsula that I never was able to solve or get good advice about.

Mr Saltwater tank had some decent advice

 

[DaddyO NJ]

What did you decide? I am getting ready to build a 72” peninsula and am looking to get all pumps on one side e

 

[stacksoner]

I drilled 2 small, 1/4in holes in the far side of the cabinet stand, cut the cords on 2 mp40s to wire them through the holes, and installed them on the far side of the tank in low positions. I had the other 2 mp40s on the near side of the tank in high positions. This was the only thing I could think of to solve the problem without creating an eye sore.

 

[VJV]

This is an old thread so I guess the OP went with some solution. In any event, because I own a 80" long peninsula for about 4 years now, I will add my findings to this thread as they may be useful for others given how popular peninsulas are becoming:

1. having all powerheads in the overflow section is, in my opinion, a bad idea. You will be mainly pushing detritus away from the overflow and likely keep it inside the tank accumulating in some dead spot. Also, if you have the pumps to the sides of the overflow you will not have much in the way of water movement in the middle, where your corals will be.

2. Ideally, you mount to gyres, one on each end (I have two 350s). I know that you would rather not have that gyre in the 3rd viewing pane but to get proper flow a cross your corals and to push the detritus into your filtration (in my case a filter roller) there is no better way.

3. Programme the 2 gyres so that you vary the intensity on an anti-sync mode in order to force the point where the flow meets to sweep across your tank, such as 60%-0%; a 50%-10%; 40%-20%; 30%-30%; 20%-40%; 10%-50%; 0%-60%; repeat. This forces the point of turbulence to move across the tank making sure that no inch is left unturned.

4. Advice on mounting gyres: you really want the unit to creat a strong momentum in the water column. I see a number of people adding more pumps to the gyres and than complaining about the flow. The added pumps will simply break the gyre momentum and actually reduce water movement. Also, the surface(s) is the point of least attrition so point those gyres towards the surface and you will see that you can lower the intensity quite a lot while keeping the water column moving at the same pace. Try this out if you do not believe me.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get rid of the pump in the viewing pane. But it is simply the most efficient and least costly way to have good flow in a long peninsula. I have mine positioned like this and if I go any stronger than a max of 40% (in my. 80" long tank) it will literally rip the flesh out of the LPS in the sandbed.

Hope this is useful.