Powerhead Config Poll!

[Buddyboy]

Hi All,

I'm sure this has been asked before, but here goes! Should I go with 2 Maxi-Jet 1200's or 3 Maxi-Jet 900's? My tank is 38 gallons and i'll be keeping a few fish, shrimp and some easy corals. Thanks for your time!

Bud

[AngeloM3]

Damn... that will probably be on the verge of TO MUCH current
you might wanna go with 2 MJ 600's

I got 2 MJ 600's and 1 MJ 400.... and its plenty of current in my 50gal
The 600 can get current from one side of the tank all the way to the other.... and the tank is 3' long. A 30gal is smaller than that.

[Buddyboy]

Hmmmm. Really? I hear that 20x turnover is the minimum for flow in a reef tank and putting in 3 MJ 900's is almost there. Anyone else have an opinion???

Bud

[Amphiprion]

2-3 1200s would work nicely for that size tank.

[chrisp074]

I run 5 MJ-400s in my 46G. I feel that more smaller PHs do a better job than a couple of big ones.

-Chris

[tag]

Originally posted by Amphiprion
2-3 1200s would work nicely for that size tank.

no, no, no ....way too much current. it will literally throw your sand around. i got this kind of bad advice for my 29 gal when i first started up and i got 2 1200. i've sinced sold them and gone with 1 600 and 1 400. the coral are much happier and the tank doesnt look like a sandstorm.

[just_in_time]

I would go with 1 600 and 1 900.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Completely not true tag. I run a Mag 7 and (2) MJ1200s on a 29g and my sand stays perfectly still. Water flow rate all depends on what you want to keep, not a rule of thumb. I'm doing 1290 gph in my 29g (not including head pressure). That's a 44.5 times turnover rate. And things are growing like crazy. I even thought about taking out my powerheads and trying something like a Seio or Tunze of a various speed.

Buddyboy, I voted for 3 MJ900s because you have less current from one direct source and you can aim it at various areas. Plus, the wattage consumed by a MJ900 is drastically less than a MJ1200. I'll let you do the math

MJ1200: 295gph, 20w
MJ900: 230gph, 8w

[Buddyboy]

I definitely like the idea of having many small powerheads than a 1-2 big ones. How about 3 600's? Or maybe 3 400's? Also, is there any advantage to having powerheads with different flow rates? Does it make the flow more chaotic/random? Lots of great help here guys!

[Travis L. Stevens]

Once again, it depends on the animals you want to keep. Do you want fish that swim in slow areas like Pajama Cardinal fish, or do you want to grow Acropora species that enjoy higher flow rates? Does what you want to keep like chaotic water movement? What about rhythmic water? Linear flow?

Just an easy way to create chaotic flow is to aim two powerheads directly at each other. Another cheap way is to take something like 2 MJ900s, aim them at each other, and add a timer to both of them. You can off set them to where the one on the left comes on and blows to the right, the right one comes on and creates turbulent flow in the middle and all over the tank, and then the left one turns off and now the left side of the tank gets the flow. If you get timers that let you adjust it by the hour you can have it a powerhead only run for 1 hour and have it offset by 30 minutes. That way the left side, middle, and right side get various different flows every 1.5 hours.

[tag]

well travis, if water flow is a measure of what you want to keep then i'd like to know what you are keeping because i tried to stick a frogspawn in the bottom of my 29 with only 1 1200 (I removed 1 after about the second day) and it looked like watching palm trees during hurricane katrina.

[Travis L. Stevens]

I keep a variety of things. From lower flow stuff like Xenia species, Euphyllia parancora, Euphyllia paradivisa, and Plerogyra sinuosa to higher flow stuff like Stylophora species, Montipora digitata, and Montipora capricornus. I got rid of my Acropora and Millipora species because my nitrates were creeping up on me at the time. I'm about to reintroduce them.

Here is a picture of my 29g tank after it got moved, drilled, and settled in. I only had the Mag 5 and 1 MJ1200 at the time. Last night I put the Mag 7 impeller on and the other MJ1200.



Here is a picture when it was a Mag5 with 2 MJ1200s.



When I first sat up my tank a year ago it was a 10g with 2 MJ1200s

Here is a thread of my tank's 1 year anniversary. Just because someone can't do it in their tank doesn't mean that it can't be done, tag. And I'm not singling you out. You just asked Even I have been shown up a few times on things that didn't work for me. - http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=789454

[racer69]

You will have a hard time running mj's with timers. They do not turn on and off consistantly, and should not be used in this way. With mj's it is much better to just aim them at each other to get a turbulent flow.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by racer69
You will have a hard time running mj's with timers. They do not turn on and off consistantly, and should not be used in this way. With mj's it is much better to just aim them at each other to get a turbulent flow.

I must have good MJs My other tank that I took down with MJs on timers had no problem turning on and off. Now, when MJs get air in their impeller while they are turned off, they can be a pain to get running again unless you turn them upside down. But, like any powerhead on a timer the on/off will slowly wear down any powerhead over time. This is one of the bonuses about Tunze's ability to actually just turn them down so they don't just completely stop.

Can Seios do that?

[amazingbobby]

In my 29gal, I have a MJ 900 and a MJ 600. At first, it didn't seem like enough. After positioning them so the currents collide at a diagonal near the center of the front wall of the tank. Now I think that may be too much for some corals. People have given much advice to me on this subject, mainly told me not to use my Hagen 802s for the 29.

[tag]

travis, i'm not trying to show you up or talk bad about ya. just speaking from my experience as i'm sure you are about yours. however, i am a little amazed by the fact that you had 2 1200's in a 10 gallon. the shear size of 2 1200's must take up a good third of the space of the tank. to each his own i guess...

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by tag
travis, i'm not trying to show you up or talk bad about ya. just speaking from my experience as i'm sure you are about yours. however, i am a little amazed by the fact that you had 2 1200's in a 10 gallon. the shear size of 2 1200's must take up a good third of the space of the tank. to each his own i guess...

I completely understand, tag. I'm trying not to step on any toes, but to show that amazing things can be done Low flow, or high flow it's not necessarily up to us but the animal We both have proven that. I'll dig around my old CDs for the one with my old pictures on it some time and post it in the "Happy Birthday" thread when I find it.

Buddyboy, I hope that you learned alot You can go small or big. It's your preference. Coral placement can be an issue though.

[Buddyboy]

Thanks so much for the great ideas! I think I might go with 3 600's. Maybe go with a wavemaker later on. I don't want a sandstorm in the tank but I don't want any dead spots either. I think the quality of flow is preferable to quantity and maybe multiple smaller powerheads is best? BTW - Nice tank Travis! Looks like the high flow works for you!

Bud

[orionsmamma]

Niether, get a bigger pump, and plumb yourself a manifold