Jabao wp-40 - Help new question #37

my sand is a mixture of regular and crushed coral. I really wanted to just need one.

 

I paid $48 for the 25's and $52 for the 40.
With the included controller you can only dial down to 50%, 75% or 100% maximum speed. The coolest thing with them is the way they ramp up in like 6 steps and back down in 8 steps or whatever, and you can control how fast it does these changes. Its not just on or off like other controllers. I'm more impressed every day.

One 25 will be plenty and will not look like a football in the tank.

 

+1,I totally agree with this.My tank is a 40b,so 3ft as OFK's will be,though her tank will be a little deeper.I am using one wb25 and one evo750(for more random flow and a little flow in opposite direction).My tank is a mixed reef as OFK's is and with this I am able to have some high flow areas as well as some lower flow areas.IMO, using a wb40 or two wb25's will give her a high flow tank,good for sps,not so good for a mixed reef.

 

I always like two powerheads on opposite ends for more random flows, so two WP-25's. With one you will end up with dead spots.

 

Hi, I'm also debating on what wp to chose and interestingly, I find your comment here. I also have a 60"x18x19 tank that is still cycling. I'm using some crappy power heads in my tank and going to upgrade to a Jebao one very soon. So, based on what you said, one single wp40 is overkill? and you are using two wp25's in your 60" tank? which one you think better to have, either 1 wp40 set up on one side of the tank or 2 wp25's set up on the opposite sides? Another thing I'd like to point out about my system is that the return pump from the sump is rated at 5000L/H which is approx 1300 GPH. I've read somewhere that the rate of the return pump should also be considered when choosing the powerheads. Is it true? Have you ever had the Koralia powerheads set up along with the Koralia Smartwave controller? It's one of my options,too. I'd appreciate any feedback.

 

I ran two Hydor Evolutions 1400's on a Reefkeeper Lite switching every 30 seconds for over two years so they had over 2.3 Million starts and stops on them. Worked great.
The Jebao WP's are different though, they don't just turn on and off, they vary the speed up like 6 steps from low to high then ramp back down from high to low or do varying bursts of water, very different principle.

Yes you can consider the return flow but is that 1300 GPH at 0 feet of head or at your given head? That 1300 at 0 feet is probably 800 at 4-5 feet of head. Then you need to look at the size of your sump and if it can take that much velocity through the sump without having microbubble problems or an inefficient skimmer since it does not have sufficient residence time in the sump. Lots of variables.

 

I agree with using two on opposite ends for random flow but would like/need a lower flow area.With one wb25 in my40b the only real low flow area is right below the wb25,keep in mind this is a 3ft tank.I actually have been considering adding a second wb25 to oppose the one I have but fear it not allow for any lower flow corals.Are you able to have areas of low flow when using two?

 

Yes I do have some lower flow areas but I have 170 lbs of Kaelini rock in my 100G so it creates barriers. I also am running the WP's capped at 75% speed since at 100% it was moving sand around and my anemones were not happy.

 

Thanks. Since I can see that you are very experienced about all this so I'm giving you all the info of my tank so you can help me to set it up properly. The return pump is rated at 1300 GPH with Max Jet :4ft (I'm not sure what this is cuz I'm a newbie lol) My sump is 36x12.5x14.5. I'll be having 3 compartments for a skimmer, a refuge and obviously a return pump. The sump will be right underneath the display tank. please give me some more advice on what power head I should buy for my tank. Thanks a bunch.

 

As I said before I would use two WP-25's or two Hydor Evolutions 1400 or 1500's with a controller.

Your sump is around 25 gallons total volume so you will probably have 10 to 15 gallons in it during normal operation, 1/2 to 2/3 full since this is where the skimmer will work best and allow you sufficient room to contain the backflow when the power goes off. I am assuming you have a MaxiJet Utility pump? I don't see one listed at 1300 GPH so have no idea what it will produce at 4 feet of headloss so can't help you there. If you have the model number of the pump we can find you a pump curve showing its performance at different heads. If the pump actually does produce 1300 GPH at 0' head it may be a little strong for a sump of that size and capacity so would need to be valved or throttled on the discharge side of the pump to lower the velocity through the sump. Say it did 1000 GPH at 4 feet of head, thats over 16 gallons per minute so you would have less than 1 minute in the sump to run it through your protein skimmer, remove or off gas all the microbubbles and return it to the display tank. Really less than 1 minute since part of the sump will be taken up by a refugium which should have slow flows on one end so only the center section and return section would count.