Water flow

[tranceFusion]

Currently I have my powerhead and pump return from the back of the tank pushing the water toward the front.. usually food that hits the bottom ends up getting pushed to the front of the tank where it swirls around for a while but eventually it circles around and settles behind the rocks (under the powerheads/return, out of the flow). The powerhead is right below the overflow taking the water out.

 

Is this ok? I guess I am worried that I am going to get a buildup of uneaten food and other detritus that I won't be able to see because it is caught up in the rockwork.

 

is there a specific pattern I should be aiming for as far as the flow goes?

[Brian Ward]

Currently I have my powerhead and pump return from the back of the tank pushing the water toward the front.. usually food that hits the bottom ends up getting pushed to the front of the tank where it swirls around for a while but eventually it circles around and settles behind the rocks (under the powerheads/return, out of the flow). The powerhead is right below the overflow taking the water out.

 

Is this ok? I guess I am worried that I am going to get a buildup of uneaten food and other detritus that I won't be able to see because it is caught up in the rockwork.

 

is there a specific pattern I should be aiming for as far as the flow goes?

 

 

 

the pattern should be random with no dead spots. many people place powerheads behind their rockwork for exactly this reason. the uneaten food won't actually build up, but it will decay - feeding any algae in your system, possibly causing hair algae or cyano to grow out of control. if you're not having any of these problems then i wouldn't try to fix something that isn't broke. unless of course, this is a government tank. then you should definitely fix it until it is broke.

[tranceFusion]

the pattern should be random with no dead spots. many people place powerheads behind their rockwork for exactly this reason. the uneaten food won't actually build up, but it will decay - feeding any algae in your system, possibly causing hair algae or cyano to grow out of control. if you're not having any of these problems then i wouldn't try to fix something that isn't broke. unless of course, this is a government tank. then you should definitely fix it until it is broke.

 

No, I haven't had these problems, but I haven't been adding much food to the system. Until now I only had a single ocellaris and I fed him pretty much a couple of pellets or flakes at a time that he would eat as soon as they hit the water..

 

Also, I had a powerhead on the side of the tank that would reach behind the rockwork but I was getting small spots of diatoms popup consistently in one area so I figured these were dead areas and re-arranged my flow. Now I feel like behind the rocks is a dead spot.. it just seems like it is near impossible to hit everything without having my display glass coated in powerheads

[st9z]

i get a lot of diatoms on my glass and sand as well. I can't seem to find a way to positive the power heads at the right spot so that there would be no more diatoms without distrubing the surrounding corals. :(

[Ziggy953]

Currently I have my powerhead and pump return from the back of the tank pushing the water toward the front.. usually food that hits the bottom ends up getting pushed to the front of the tank where it swirls around for a while but eventually it circles around and settles behind the rocks (under the powerheads/return, out of the flow). The powerhead is right below the overflow taking the water out.

 

Is this ok? I guess I am worried that I am going to get a buildup of uneaten food and other detritus that I won't be able to see because it is caught up in the rockwork.

 

is there a specific pattern I should be aiming for as far as the flow goes?

 

How big is your tank? How long has it been set up? For most reef tanks you want 25-35x turn over (90 gallon tank = 2250gph - 3150phg turn over). I have a 72g bow with around 3500gph turn over, a combination of return and power heads in my tank. You want random and chaotic flow.