Some Small Problems - But Need Real Help [Powerhead Placement]

[Noober]

Ok this is a problem easily fixed. I just rearranged my rocks in my 50 gallon tank so that I can fit SPS corals at the top eventually, and keep my current soft corals at the bottom. I wish I had the space on the floor of the tank to make a L or U shaped lagoon, even a central rock pile would be nice. But the small floorplan of my tank restricts my choices (my tank is a tall tank). I have 75-85 lbs of live rock. So I created a bleacher style tank with only like 2 inches of water space on the back wall. My previous arrangement of rocks, with just one 300 gph powerhead aiming at the top of the water along with another small powerhead facing sorta downward on the vertical middle of the left side of the tank, provided enough flow to keep all my polyps and zooanthids to sway nice and smoothly in the current. Now with my new rock configuration It wasnt working, so I pointed my small powerhead behind the back of the rocks to keep that water from standing still, and the corals in the front of the tank still had dead spots. I bought another 300 gph powerhead and put it in the opposite corner of the tank as the other and pointed it at the other one, so one would aim from the back left side of the tank to the back right side of the tank, and the other would flow from the front left side of the tank to the front right side of the tank. The flow is barly moving the once dead spots and I would like to figure out a way to arrange my rocks and powerheads to create optimal flow, please help! Thanks a ton, Kudos

[Noober]

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h254/mpthreer/Aquarium/waterflow.jpg Man before my all 3 of my polyp colonies were out reaching for the sky, now their tucked in. You can see all three of my powerheads in this picture for better reference. Thanks a ton!

[apedroza]

keep the small one behind the rocks. If you plan on sticking with the 2 MJs place them in the back and angle them both towards the front center. For better flow I would replace the MJ's with koralias or tunze nanos for a wider more random flow. Also if your zoas are constantly reaching upwards and over stretching, that is an indication they are not reciving enough light. If they are open and not as outstrecthed that is a good sign.

HTH

[Noober]

Thanks a lot dude, I wish that the local petstore would ever stock any good stuff, but its obvious the owner isnt a reefer. Anyway, Ok I'll do that and right now i built a ballast box in the trim shop and it houses two MH ballasts, with two plugs for two lights, at the moment I am just going to use one of them with a 250 watt 20K XM MH bulb. I might add another 250 to this tank sometime if needed. I am running 250 watt bulbs on 400 watt ballasts, which changes the spectrum a bit and mabe life of the bulb, but that is only temporary because I wanted to keep my options open when upgrading to my 100 gallon or an even bigger tank. Anyway thanks a ton, and ps the hood is almost done and ready! I'm excited.:wub:

[apedroza]

Marine depot and Dr F&S usually carry both really cheap.

[ErikH]

You should drill the rocks and use acrylic rods to hold them in place. You could even make branches held with rods and some foam!