Power Head Pump Placement and Flow in Display Tank

[SkyReef]

How many power head pumps are in your display tank, and where are they placed?

I have a 75-gallon reef aquarium. It is a bare-bottom tank. Here is the counter-clockwise water-flow pattern established by the return pump and four power head pumps:

(1) Return Pump: My return pump sends the return flow to the top, middle portion of my tank at its rear, through two 45-degree elbow outlets, which are aimed to the left, flowing diagonally down and counter-clockwise

(2) Power Head 1 (large) placed on the right-side wall of the tank, flowing water to the left, and this pump is at the bottom of the tank angled straight ahead (not up or down), to keep detritus and debris from settling on the floor of my bare-bottom tank;

(3) Power Head 2 (smaller) is placed on the rear wall of the tank at the far left side, flowing water to the front-right, diagonally, and this pump is at the top of the tank, angled down;

(4) Power Head 3 (large) is placed on the left-side wall of the tank, flowing water to the right, and this pump is also at the bottom of the tank, angled straight ahead, to keep detritus and debris from settling on the floor of my bare-bottom tank; and

(5) Power Head 4 (smaller) is placed on the front wall of the tank at the far right side, flowing water straight to the back of the tank, and this pump is at the top of the tank, angled straight ahead, to flow the cycle out of the tank, over the weir. However, I have a coast-to-coast weir in the back of the tank, so the water actually exits the tank along the entire width of the tank, not just at the right side.

What are your thoughts on this water-flow design, and how have you arranged the flow in your display tank? Thanks for your input.

[moondoggy4]

Sounds like a real good plan.

I run tunze pumps and they are controllable so I am still missing around trying to get everything right, I could turn them way up and cause a huge sand storm, so I am looking more for a puff of water kinda like when a scuba diver blows circles to the surface.

[SkyReef]

Originally Posted by moondoggy4

Sounds like a real good plan.

I run tunze pumps and they are controllable so I am still missing around trying to get everything right, I could turn them way up and cause a huge sand storm, so I am looking more for a puff of water kinda like when a scuba diver blows circles to the surface.

Sounds like you have very good flow, and you have variability.

As for the issue of placement, I have noticed that since I lowered the bigger two power heads to the floor-level of the tank, it has done a great job of keeping detritus from settling on the bottom. Wish I did that a year ago. Wow, how clean my bare-bottom tank has become!