How would you set this up?

Trying to find a decent way to temporarily set up powerheads until we get the cash to pick up 2 new koralias. Right now we have 2 maxijet 1200s and they just create a wave pool. Also have a Penguin 550 laying around but it doesnt flow much. We have heard different opinions of how much flow we need and none really make sense considering the just the maxis make 590 gph and some suggest we need more and some say its overkill. Anyway the tank is 40 gallons, has an eheim 2234 on it and right now it just has fish, inverts and soft corals and will eventuallty have sps in it. Anyway the flow is obnoxious and is always blowing things around like crazy and we arent sure how to aim the heads, if we should remove one, add another or anything. Is there a way to get by with any combo of the 3 we already have until we get the extra cash?

 

just use one a stretch it across the span of the tank long way

 

So mounting one of the 1200s to shoot length wise, cool. Would it be best to stick it up top or halfway down? None of them have deflectors so its just a straight annoying jet stream. Thanks again for the help.

 

higher gives you more surface movement which is good for gas exchange which is important in a reef aquarium

 

typo

 

Cool we pulled out one of the 1200s so now we have just one aimed lengthwise about 4 inches below the surface. Breaks the surface nicely without to much turbulance and doesnt make the duster and xenias look like they are in a wind storm. Seems like everything now has gentle but steady movement. Sometimes its the most simple things, we never thought to mount one on the side and ditch the other. We were told to set them up in each corner on the back of the tank and aim them at the center of the front glass. Tried that and it made a big whirlpool and ripped the top of the water like crazy. we played around with different configurations but never got it just right until now. Thanks again for the help.

 

awwww see this is why i come here i love this ******* site!!! good luck happy reefing , ps maybe a video so i can check it out

 

If you want to have SPS you will probably need more flow than that to have healthy coral, have you tried putting one MJ1200 on both sides of the tank pointing directly at each other?

It's pretty common to have two powerheads bouncing off the front glass like you describe. I wonder if you aren't just overly sensitive to the amount of flow you're getting because it's really not a lot in the grand scheme of things. It can take some time for coral to get adjusted to new amounts of flow so unless the coral is getting completely blasted from one direction it's probably going to be fine. However mixing xenia and other softies can be more tricky with SPS because softies generally like lower flow and SPS need lots of flow so be prepared to try and balance those two very different requirements.

To me for a tank with SPS you should have almost enough flow to start a sandstorm.