How much flow is to much

[brianjoy81]

I have a Red Sea 34 gallon reef tank. It has 2 power heads built in. I added an additional Koralia 1050 gph power head in there. Im thinking of adding another one on the opposite side so that they slam in to each other and cause turbulence. Obviously you don't want the LPS coral ripping off the skeloton but would an additional power head just be to much?

[Gerwin]

meh....I would go with your tank looked great before as it was, maybe buy a controller to turn the one you have on and off from Hydor about 69 dollars

[JWChatham]

I'm new to the SW game and wondering if my powerhead is just too concentrated (like a jet blower vs. a koralia "fan/prop.) or maybe 300 gph is too much in my 29G display. Although I have read people running upwards 20-30x/hr turnover. When it runs my mushrooms shrivel up or look like they are going to blow/rip off of the rock. Star polyps and leather close. Tank gets very boring when running b/c nothing to see... And boring when off b/c nothing moves. Any ideas?

[Gerwin]

yes , often the focused beam of a conventional powerhead is to much on smaller tanks, and your corals are telling you so, although leathers can take a pretty big volume.... there are things you can do, swing by the store and I will give you some ideas. Just remind me of this post.

[Scott Allen]

I'm new to the SW game and wondering if my powerhead is just too concentrated (like a jet blower vs. a koralia "fan/prop.) or maybe 300 gph is too much in my 29G display. Although I have read people running upwards 20-30x/hr turnover. When it runs my mushrooms shrivel up or look like they are going to blow/rip off of the rock. Star polyps and leather close. Tank gets very boring when running b/c nothing to see... And boring when off b/c nothing moves. Any ideas?

Ignore arbitrary numbers like that. They are repeated by people who read it from someone else. Your thoughts on it being to concentrated are probably accurate. The 20-30x+ flow is for larger sps dominant tanks and it needs to come from multiple powerheads placed all over the tank so you don't end up tearing the flesh off the corals near the big power heads. On your tank, I think a simple controller to get a more chaotic flow is a great idea.

[JWChatham]

Thanks for the tips. G, I pointed it into a rock to disperse the flow and it worked like a charm.