Tunze 6105 Placement in Peninsula Tank

[jharding08]

I have a 4'x2'x2' peninsula mixed reef tank controlled by an Apex system.



I'm looking to move more towards an SPS dominated tank and am moving towards controllable Tunze circ pumps. I am currently using two non-controllable pumps on opposite sides creating a circular motion.

I bought one Tunze 6105 and am looking to get some wave motion going.

Where should I place the Tunze if I am going to just have the one controllable pump in the tank? How far from the top, corner or center, and facing the rock or indirect?

For programming to my Apex, I have sunrise, daytime, sunset, night profiles
Type: pump
Minimum Intensity: 30
Maximum Intensity: 75 (Sunrise/Sunset), 50 (Night), 100 (Daytime)
Sync: Disabled
Divide-by 10: Disabled
Initial off time: 0
On time: 8
Off time: 4


I plan on buying a second Tunze 6105 to get a push-pull setup going. Depending on where the initial Tunze is placed, It would affect where the second will go. Could I use a non-controllable circ pump to pulse in the meanwhile?

Thanks for your help

[rvitko]

Placement is always a trial and error process, as is programming. I can make a generic recommendation as a starting point but with coral placement and layout somethings must be changed and in the end you look for the following key factors.

1) Is everything happy, open and growing.
2) Is detritus accumulating in any particular spot.
3) Is the flow too chaotic for a good feeding response, flow patterns should be generally rhythmic and predictable, occasional chaos to stir up and clean the reef (like a storm) is fine, but nature generally runs in predictable patterns.

With those key points in mind I would generally place one pump in each back corner, submerged 1/4- 1/3 of the total tank depth. I would angle it so hits the front roughly 2/3rd to 3/4 of the tank length away in the front. You will usually idle one at the lowest speed for several hours, while the other pulses or runs at a higher speed and then alternate them.

There are easily a few ways you could layout the pumps and be successful, I would try the generic recommendation and I would also try a placement like you have now but with the program I had suggested. If you want to have sunrise, midday and sunset modes that is fine you could tweak the top end speed. The key is that everything looks good, polyps can expand and catch a prevailing current and feed and detritus is not piling up in a specific corner.