Powerheads in a nanocube

[drg0nzo1]

I have extra powerheads laying around but i am not sure which one too use. Most of them are 250-300 gph. But one is a 80 and the other is 120. I am thinking the 80 will be good extra current in there. My question is, where should i place it in the tank to get optimum water movement. I see a lot of people put them flowing in the opposite direction of their main pumps flow. Is this the best way to go? or will that make too much turbulence for my little ocellaris clown?

[uglybuckling]

Currents in oppositte directions are usually good for creating turbulent, chaotic flow, which is good news for corals. Fish will eventually get used to it, as long as it's not too strong for them overall. If you go crazy with it, you'll create a sandstorm, and too much flow for your fish. The usual recommendation for soft corals is somewhere between 10 and 20 times the tank's volume, in flow, per hour. Hence a 12 gallon cube would need between 120 and 240 gph total...if you put a 250-300 gph powerhead in there, you may have some problems. I don't know what you've already got in there, but make sure to tailor your flow in your tank to the kinds of corals you want to keep (xenia = high flow, zoos = medium flow, mushrooms = low flow....ask around for other species or other opinions about these (some folks think very differently than I do about the kind of flow zoos need, especially...)

 

--Bucky

[artouse]

What brand of powerheads are you running in your cube? Any problems with them sucking up critters like anenomes?