Hello,


I have listened to your podcasts and I thought they were really great and helpful. Okay so I have a question and you said in my 29 gal setup that I would need 15 flow, so according to my calculation's I have came up with a total of 435 gph. is this correct? So if it is then could I just get away with two maxi-jet 900 powerhead's I see it say's they put out 230 gph each. Would this be okay to do? I heard on your podcast it said to set them up in a couple different way's strait across from each other aiming current at each other, and angling them to face the front of the tank both at about the right angle's. Would this be good though to aim them both at each other in a small system or am I looking for trouble because you were talking about in larger tanks making them strait across from each other. I didnt know if this would be okay to do in a smaller tank also. I am sorry about the questions lol just dont wanna go out and buy anymore stuff I dont/cant use which I have done alot. anyways thanks for your time and take care............Shaun

Hello,

I have listened to your podcasts and I thought they were really great and helpful. Okay so I have a question and you said in my 29 gal setup that I would need 15 flow, so according to my calculation's I have came up with a total of 435 gph. is this correct?
yes, thats correct. keep in mind this is an estimate on the lower end you can go higher if you wish, but you should try not to go lower, or filtration might suffer (amongst other things)

So if it is then could I just get away with two maxi-jet 900 powerhead's I see it say's they put out 230 gph each. Would this be okay to do?
yes, these plus the output of your skimmer (assuming you have one) would be a great place to start

I heard on your podcast it said to set them up in a couple different way's strait across from each other aiming current at each other, and angling them to face the front of the tank both at about the right angle's. Would this be good though to aim them both at each other in a small system or am I looking for trouble because you were talking about in larger tanks making them strait across from each other. I didnt know if this would be okay to do in a smaller tank also. I am sorry about the questions lol just dont wanna go out and buy anymore stuff I dont/cant use which I have done alot. anyways thanks for your time and take care............Shaun
yes, those are good places to start, but honestly you need to try things and see what works. you are shooting the best coverage in your system, so try things and see what works. if you use the maxi-jets you can use a turkey baster and blow air into the little venturi inlet on the top. the air will turn into a bunch of tiny bubbles and show you exactly how the water flow is coming out of the pump. hard to explain, try it and you will see hoe it works.. :)

Hi,

Okay I am planning on keeping the low water flow coral's. I went to the lfs today and the owner told me that 15x turn over in his oppinion was a bit to much he said the 10 range. anyhow what's your thought's on this? I also heard in one of your pods that you were talking about feeding fish food without phosphate's. I asked him about that and he said every brand of fish food has phosphate's in it. he said that the fish needed phosphate's in there food's. I am just wanting to hear different oppinions on stuff. I also asked him about crushed coral/sand in a reef setup he said that its about all the same I told him that the detritus could build up in the crushed coral. he then stuck his hand in his tank with the sand and shook it and a bunch of dirt came up, he said so sand is no better only if your keeping fish that like to burrow in the sand. but to me it seem's more like the sand indeed would be much better just my two cents..................Shaun

hey,

maybe it was algae on the sand he had not dirt, and anyhow I tried the air into the powerhead and I see what way your talking about very easy way to tell whats going on thanks again for all of your help........Shaun

even if you have to much flow, you can always point it in the dirrection of the water surface, surface agitation can never be over killed in my opinion.
what low flow corals are you refering too?

and with substrate choices its always going to depend on the species of animals you keep and your means to extract floating particles from the water column. as with any substrate, the larger the grains or pieces, the more it settles though vibration in between it.
basicly you need to choose & find a middle ground between versitility & visual appeal.

as for the food, your looking to minimise input of things like Phos, whilst maximise output or extraction. Fish are processing machines of phos to start with so limiting high phos foods is a benifical start for long term stability

my opinion on the water flow is 15x minimum, that my opinion on it, i feel its whats needed to get proper flow around the rocks and over the sand bet to meet minimum filtration needs.

for the food, Veriann is dead on. most flak foods do have some level of phosphate, the point is you want to minimize it. i choose formula one flake which if i recall doesn't have any phosphate based items listen in the ingredients.

and for the sand bed, he proved my point. when using coarse crushed coral, all that detritus builds up, that's what you saw. if you were to do the same with fins CC or sand, you would not see this, you would see small sand particles but not the detritus like that. sand beds with coarse CC usually need to be vacuumed to keep nitrate levels down

Hi,

Thanks for the input. I will go with the 15 flow deal. I guess maybe what he had was the crushed fine course coral substrate. I am all new to this and Just wanting to hear everyone's oppinion's on the stuff. I want to go with sand I do beleave in my system since it seem's much better. So I will try to get some of that white castle/southdown sand and add that in to the tank. how many inche's would you make the sand bed? anyways thanks for all of the adivce thanks again...............Shaun

I would start with at least 5" of sand because it will compact over time. Here is a calculator (http://www.aquariumadvice.com/calcs2.php?type=sanddepth) to determine the amount of sand you will need.

even if you have to much flow, you can always point it in the dirrection of the water surface, surface agitation can never be over killed in my opinion.
what low flow corals are you refering too?

and with substrate choices its always going to depend on the species of animals you keep and your means to extract floating particles from the water column. as with any substrate, the larger the grains or pieces, the more it settles though vibration in between it.
basicly you need to choose & find a middle ground between versitility & visual appeal.

as for the food, your looking to minimise input of things like Phos, whilst maximise output or extraction. Fish are processing machines of phos to start with so limiting high phos foods is a benifical start for long term stability


Hi,

I am planning on soft coral's as of right now. I am not to sure as yet I would like probably the mushrooms for starter's I guess it makes more sense to first decide what to go with, just stuff that is starter coral for now until I gain experience in it all. thanks for the input and help....................Shaun

Hi,

Thanks for the calculator it would not calculate it for some reason maybe I will check back thanks carmie,rob,veriann

The depth of sand I need for my tank is "..." doesn't look very deep to me. Not sure why but it doesn't seem to work.

Try this one. (http://www.fragoutpost.com/calculator-sand-bed)

Carmiehttp://www.alexander-oberg.de/smileys/calich-s.gif to the rescue.

thats for posting that, although its in german..........:huh: lol, well not really, but close enough, its in imperial.

iono if this is useful. rob once told in his podcast that a 20gal tank doesnt have 20 gal of water. make sure u take your LR and equipment into consideration. let us know whats updating...

Guys, is 5 inches considered a DSB? I really just want enough sand to cover the bottom for contrast (and so coralline and detritus aren't covering the bottom). I have about an inch and hope to lose half of that to vacuuming over the next several months. I'd consider a DSB refugium, but I hate the way it looks in the display tank for some reason.

5 Inches is considered a DSB, I have always thought of a 4 inch or more as a DSB but i also think a 5 inches or more on a bigger tank (125, 150 and 200 gallon tanks) Thats just what i think anyways :) lol