MP40 placement question

Daniel@R2R · Dec 12, 2016

Hi folks. I'm trying to decide on the best place to mount my MP40. Any opinions are appreciated.

Here's pics of where I currently have it mounted right behind my rock structure.

I'm wondering if this is fine or if there's a better way to do it. I really want to keep it on the back wall as it keeps view from being unobstructed on all 3 sides...just not sure if where I have it behind the structure is the best idea or not.

The reason I have it there now is because of it being centered, seems to provide good movement around the structure, keeps detritus from building up in the structure. My concerns are with whether or not this placement will cause issues for coral or fish.

twilliard · Dec 12, 2016

Are they bi-directional pump heads?
If they were placed lower aiming up to the rock would make IMO a good swirl up and over the rock.
I use my flake food as a way to see the direction of water movement

Daniel@R2R · Dec 12, 2016

twilliard said:
Are they bi-directional pump heads?
If they were placed lower aiming up to the rock would make IMO a good swirl up and over the rock.
I use my flake food as a way to see the direction of water movement

It's an MP40, so no option to turn or tilt. It blew off a bunch of dust from the rock, so I was able to watch that there's still lots of flow around the tank. I'll drop in some dry food later to double check though. Thanks for the idea.

Daniel@R2R · Dec 13, 2016

Hmmm...let's bump this. #reefsquad, can ya hep me?

Sabellafella · Dec 13, 2016

mdbannister said:
Hmmm...let's bump this. #reefsquad, can ya hep me?

Scape looks wonderful! If it were mine, Id move it just a tad bit to the left, sorta right under the return nozzle. Then id point the return toward the front right of the tank. My reason being, youll basically be covered with a laminar current everywhere in the tank. Where the pump is now, flow would maybe be skipping over the rock and winging around the sides of the structure, the rock is in its "movement" path so to speak. Those mp40s are powerful! Have a very broad range of output flow, so anywhere you put it, youll be covered!

maroun.c · Dec 13, 2016

Maybe couple of MP10s on the side would have been better.
If flow is fine id leave it where it is and decrease flow when u place corals on the rock right in front of it or just keep the back of the rock without corals.

maroun.c · Dec 13, 2016

+1 on a great scape.

Brew12 · Dec 13, 2016

Unfortunately, without seeing how the flow actually works its way around from the back to the front of the structure, it's hard for me to comment.

I would say more important than placement of the powerhead is placement of any coral you add to the tank. No matter where you put the powerhead you will get high and low flow areas. Just plan to place your corals according to their flow needs. If you don't have enough high flow areas to fit where you want to put the high flow corals, you may need to change it or add another flow source.

jsker · Dec 13, 2016

Daniel
I think you over thinking it

, Scape look great, pump is in the right place. flow on the rock and agitation of the water on top.
If you were to add a gyre on top then I would move the MP 40 lower and also turn it down to about 40%

Daniel@R2R · Dec 17, 2016

Thanks for the great responses, everyone! I moved it around to different places, but ended up putting it back in the same place bc anywhere else I moved it seemed to either kick sand up continuously or create dead zones. So for now, it's staying pretty close to the original location.

Daniel@R2R · Jan 12, 2017

Bumping this back up because I'm not happy with the flow I'm getting. I have this sucker cranked up full blast on reef crest mode, and I'm still not getting the flow I'm hoping for...

I have 3 options I'm considering.

Move the MP40 to the right side of the tank (instead of the back wall)
Break out a 2nd MP40 I have (it's a wES not a wQD) and put it on the back wall on the left side (the one already there could be moved a little to the right)
Put an MP40 on either side of the tank (1 on left side would be moved toward the back and 1 on right side would be toward the front so they are criss-crossing flow).

Thoughts? Am I a mad man for thinking about 2 MP40's on a 50g?

Brew12 · Jan 12, 2017

mdbannister said:
Bumping this back up because I'm not happy with the flow I'm getting. I have this sucker cranked up full blast on reef crest mode, and I'm still not getting the flow I'm hoping for...

I have 3 options I'm considering.

Move the MP40 to the right side of the tank (instead of the back wall)

Break out a 2nd MP40 I have (it's a wES not a wQD) and put it on the back wall on the left side (the one already there could be moved a little to the right)

Put an MP40 on either side of the tank (1 on left side would be moved toward the back and 1 on right side would be toward the front so they are criss-crossing flow).

Thoughts? Am I a mad man for thinking about 2 MP40's on a 50g?

How about

4. Splitting your return to 2 nozzles and using it to help improve the uniformity of the flow?

If you do use the 2nd MP40 I highly recommend doing the upgrade to QD. It is amazing how much of an improvement that makes.

Daniel@R2R · Jan 12, 2017

Brew12 said:
How about

4. Splitting your return to 2 nozzles and using it to help improve the uniformity of the flow?

If you do use the 2nd MP40 I highly recommend doing the upgrade to QD. It is amazing how much of an improvement that makes.

I've got some loc-line on order from MD, so I hopefully can divert some of the flow which might help some. I'm just not sure how much flow that's going to really increase bc the tank is so small and so return needs to be dialed back pretty low (maybe 500 gph...and that's at 10x through the sump per hour...ideally I'd be at 5-7x per hour).

rayn · Jan 12, 2017

I'm surprised you aren't getting enough flow. I had two on a 120 and it created waves in there, 1 on a 50 should work. How long is it and how many obstacles are in the way?

Adding a second could at least allow you to run them at a lower setting each.

Daniel@R2R · Jan 12, 2017

rayn said:
I'm surprised you aren't getting enough flow. I had two on a 120 and it created waves in there, 1 on a 50 should work. How long is it and how many obstacles are in the way?

Adding a second could at least allow you to run them at a lower setting each.

The problem is the obstacles. The mp40 is right behind my rock structure. The problem (maybe obviously) is not getting as much flow as I want around the rock work (particularly on top and on shelf pieces on sides). The cube tank dims are 22" x 22" x 20". If you look at the first post, you can see pictures of the mp40 placement.