Powerhead Placement 75G reef tank

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

Hey Everyone,
Looking for a little advice on powerhead placement and size for my 75G reef tank. Tank has been up and running for almost 3yrs now and I feel like Im still struggling on best location for powerheads in regards to all my coral. Seems like everytime I make some changes some coral get ticked off at me. I know more flow isnt going to necessarily hurt but think I might have too much movement and cant limit it. I included some pictures of how its set up at the moment. Any help would be appreciated thanks

madweazl · Nov 28, 2017

I run a pair of MP40s (one on each side) on a 75g at speed step 10 which should be about 2700gph or 36x turnover rate. The right side pump is a couple inches from the back wall and the left side pump is a couple inches from the front wall. Both are approx seven inches below the water surface. The return pump is putting out 720gph (assuming the return plumbing is 80% efficient).

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

I had mine placed on each side before and never could seem to make everything happy! Sounds like my powerheads clearly aren't too powerful then if your running 2 mp40s. Maybe I'll try moving them back to each side just closer to the surface. Thanks for your input!

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

The sand bed in your tank looks awesome!

madweazl · Nov 28, 2017

T.J. said:
The sand bed in your tank looks awesome!

Black "Nature's Ocean Bio-active reef sand."

Forsaken77 · Nov 28, 2017

madweazl said:
Black "Nature's Ocean Bio-active reef sand."

Do you have any problems with magnetic scrapers? I read that a lot of people have that sand get magnetised to the scraper and scratch the glass.

I have Hawaiian Black in my 93 cube, but it's too coarse and is a detritus trap. I like the look of black sand, but they always seem to have a problem. Whether magnetic particles, too coarse, a lot of silt, large chunks of lava rock, ect... I also don't feel it buffers the water like real sand does in my tank. They added little specs of aragonite to buffer, but it's not enough. Hope you don't have issues with your sand. It looks nice, but doesn't perform like natural sand does, ime.

madweazl · Nov 28, 2017

Forsaken77 said:
Do you have any problems with magnetic scrapers? I read that a lot of people have that sand get magnetised to the scraper and scratch the glass.

I have Hawaiian Black in my 93 cube, but it's too coarse and is a detritus trap. I like the look of black sand, but they always seem to have a problem. Whether magnetic particles, too coarse, a lot of silt, large chunks of lava rock, ect... I also don't feel it buffers the water like real sand does in my tank. They added little specs of aragonite to buffer, but it's not enough. Hope you don't have issues with your sand. It looks nice, but doesn't perform like natural sand does, ime.

I've had zero issues with it and I scrape right down just under the surface of the sand with a MagFloat with scraper. No funky metals in the Triton analysis results. Sand doesn't buffer anything in reality anyways so it's never been an issue for me. I used this in another tank about five years ago without issue as well. With that said, my next tank will likely have white sand to brighten the overall look of the tank up a bit. I really like the black because the gobies really stand out on it though (I'll just have to get a pair of yellow watchman for the 150g I guess).

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

The black really makes the colors pop!

Vahanyos · Nov 28, 2017

Do you run them alternating or are they always on? What mode do you use? also, i dont see a return. Do you have a sump?

I would suggest putting them about 3/4 of the way up and slightly pointed towards the water surface so most of the flow is strong in the top middle area... and if they are pointing at each other at not so high speeds it will clash and spread throughout the tank...

Vahanyos · Nov 28, 2017

Sorry, i would put one on the left, and one on the right glass, middle placement is fine, but 3/4 of the way up

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

The returns are right by the powerheads in the pictures, hard to see but they're there. The PH on the left is always on and believe it's a hydor 750 and PH on the right is jebao rw-8 and is running on wave function with about 1-2 second on & off

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

It's sounding like i had them placed correctly before I moved them but just didn't have them aimed enough at the surface

Sphinxj13 · Nov 28, 2017

Guessing something like this seems to be what everyone is saying and left PH is hydor 850

Forsaken77 · Nov 28, 2017

I always try to have my flow just skim the surface of the sand to kick up detritus. I also have it disturb the water surface.

A quick gyre tip: What I found to be good placement is with an Icecap Gyre mounted diagonally in the back corner opposite of the overflow. Have it pointing smack in the middle of the front pane. Then it will disturb the top, skim the sand, and deflect around back both directions.

Obviously we're not working with a gyre (just thought I'd throw that in because people have a hard time placing them) but I usually keep PH's on the back & side walls, low in the tank, facing upwards and deflecting off the side panel to have everything go in a circular motion past the overflow.

It kicks up stuff off the floor and raises it up into the water column. A strong PH on the back wall facing the side and another on the side facing the front. That way it keeps everything moving towards the overflow.

The Sicce Xtreme pumps are excellent. Super small and VERY powerful. Even has a self cleaning impeller. I believe the 2500gph or 3000 gph are the ones I used. Sucks in water from everywhere and aren't hundreds of dollars.

Sphinxj13 · Nov 29, 2017

Thanks for the info and details about the Gyre and sicce, definitely going to look into them!

madweazl · Nov 29, 2017

T.J. said:
Thanks for the info and details about the Gyre and sicce, definitely going to look into them!

Corals typically dont like the direct flow on them but if it is indirect (e.g. off some other surface first), it seems to work out better (based on my anecdotal experience anyways). I'd say off the front or rear glass would be better than directly at the surface but you can certainly try a couple things to see what works out best for you.

Sphinxj13 · Nov 29, 2017

Thanks, I tried aiming them at the front and everything got really mad at me hahahah so I moved them back to the sides and aimed them towards the surface a little more to see how that works. Hard to find that sweet spot so everything is happy! Seems like my Sunny D polyps hate me no matter where they're placed. And ever since I moved them my Gono hasn't come back out

madweazl · Nov 29, 2017

T.J. said:
Thanks, I tried aiming them at the front and everything got really mad at me hahahah so I moved them back to the sides and aimed them towards the surface a little more to see how that works. Hard to find that sweet spot so everything is happy! Seems like my Sunny D polyps hate me no matter where they're placed. And ever since I moved them my Gono hasn't come back out

What I meant was mounted on the sides but angled slightly toward the front and rear panes to deflect the flow; something like a 15-20° toward the front and/or back panes. This isn't to say that toward the surface wont work.