My LFS Said.......

I'm putting this thread in "filtration" because every filter in a tank needs what? ... A Return Pump!!!

Being said, I am building a new Refugium, definitely going with slow flow, but here's what spiked my curiosity. While at my LFS, he tells me the best way to get circulation in my tank is to aim my power heads straight at each other from opposite sides of my tank to create the most distortion. The visual I got from imagining the water going crazy made a lot of sense, but does everybody agree, or is my LFS just trying to sell me another power head, or a larger pump.....lol

 

Makes sense but not really needed if your already putting powerheads into it, that was my initial thought when i set mine up, but, it turns out it still wasnt enough flow for what my needs are so i ended up putting power heads into it anyways... Id just go smaller, with powerheads

 

thats pretty close to how i run mine,the 2 pumps hitting each other in the middle (mines offset just a bit) create quite a bit of turbulance which sways my softies in many directions instead of just blasting a coral from one side all the time.I tweaked mine for better flow in some areas and less in others and this works well for me.

 

That is why the vortechs are so awesome the amount of flow in random directions is amazing.

 

+1 on posts above

the corals you keep, will have the final say in the flow pattern you choose
its mostly about "feel" rather than a hard and fast proper way to set up power heads

Steve

 

I see what you are saying, but I look at water flow basically as any means in which you direct water movement, including my water returning from my refuge, being that I don't want a high flow through there( somewhere around 250-300 gph) then logically I should increase my flow in the DT with powerheads.....


BTW, what flow did you start out with, and what did you end up getting after...

 

yes I would adjust your flow in your DT or your drain line that go to your sump/fuge cause you dont want much flow at all in there deff not a PH.

 

Pointing at each other, huh? Ever have a few people in a round pool and you all start walking around the pool in the same direction? That seems to create a lot of flow. I wonder if that same kind of process would work in a tank. Sure seems like it would work better than pointing them at each other to create more flow. Not saying corals would like it better though.

 

It creates a undertow as well as some random flow

 

I suppose a miniature whirlpool would have a lot of flow around the outside, since you put it like that, but what about the inside, where the climatic flow would ultimately end up?