Power Heads

[Steve...]

Hi Guys,

I need some feedback on power head positioning... Should I be pointing them upwards, downwards or other?

[Nano]

Do you have a sump or protein skimmer? If not its not a bad idea to have one pointed up for gas exchange.

[Steve...]

I have a sump and skimmer...

[Nano]

Then you should get decent gas exchange from the overflow line and skimmer, so you could point them just about any way you wanted. What size or dimensions is the tank? I ask cause cubes are tricky to get the flow right in where as longer tanks arent. Imo.

[Steve...]

Its 6 foot long by 2 foot deep and 3 ft tall

[Nano]

Whoa that's a big one :P what type of power heads are you running or going to be running? I would assume tunze if they're directional? Might need someone with a little more big tank know how lol I'm building a 120 running 2 tunze 6105's my plan is to point one up at about mid level in the tank and the other opposite, pointing just slightly down, more or less straight across the tank, creating undertow.. I don't know if thats feasible or not however as I've yet to try it.

[kien]

Its 6 foot long by 2 foot deep and 3 ft tall

3' tall?!? Can we see this beauty?? :-D

Flow is 1 part personal preference and 1 part needs of your inhabitants. For example, hard corals like SPS like a lot of flow. Preferably random but gentle straight on flow is OK too. May LPS on the other hand are OK with a bit less flow. Even the LPS corals that like lots of flow can't handle straight on flow as you'll stress their tissue. You just kinda have to play around with your positioning to see what works for you and your inhabitants. I have a 6 foot tank and I just point my two tunze 6105 powerheads straight down the length of my tank.

[Madreefer]

Do you have a sump or protein skimmer? If not its not a bad idea to have one pointed up for gas exchange.

Just to add, a little bit of a ripple on the top off the water is always good. And as others mentioned random flow is much better. At least from what i've seen in my tank.

[Steve...]

Thanks Guys! Ill play around...