Flow for Beginner Soft Coral in 40B

[EricR]

Looking for suggestions for 1-2 powerheads and/or wave makers to get adequate flow in a 40 gallon breeder to try a couple of beginner soft corals (probably GSP and/or Xenia).

*Just did a tank transfer from a 6 month old 37 gallon tall tank so will wait a bit for new tank to mature/settle before adding corals but just want to get the flow equipment first/soon.

Tank is FOWLR and non-coral inverts so far:
-- Only filtration is 2 HOB power filters
-- Tank is in a nook so no room below for sump or anything else external (beyond HOB equipment)
-- Budget is somewhat flexible but lets say $100-$200 is ideal with hard max at $400-$500, only if it really makes sense
-- LEDs are 1x Nicrew HyperReef 50W and 1x Kessil A80 which I think should be OK for first try at beginner softies (probably on the one side under the Nicrew 50W)

Bonus points if you're running a 40B setup you like for fish and softies -- What do you have?
Extra bonus points if you're running HOB filtration (unlikely?) with softies.

*I've seen other tanks running HOB filtration + powerhead for soft corals so know it's possible but if you have a strong opinion against this setup, I am still interested in hearing it, along with what you'd suggest doing, given that I have no room for sump/fuge below the tank.

Here's my current setup in case it helps to see my current aquascape,,, uhhh,,, I mean "rock piles":

 

[Grsfish]

1 jebao pump would be plenty for that size tank. I just had a 40 breeder set up temporary and that pump was plenty

 

[EricR]

1 jebao pump would be plenty for that size tank. I just had a 40 breeder set up temporary and that pump was plenty

Thanks. Do you remember which one you were using? Something like this maybe:




Beyond that, a couple of other notes for anyone responding to this:
-- It'd be nice to have something that wasn't going to "chop up" my small clownfish or urchin and starfish. (The urchin and starfish like to crawl all over everything so just noting that)
-- No plans to get too serious about corals. Just some easy soft corals for the foreseeable future.

 

[EricR]

Bumping my own thread (since only 1 response and now it's almost the weekend) -- wait,,, is that legal?

Specific model#s that anyone would suggest? Every brand has tons of models and I'm not even really sure what all I should be looking for.

If left to my own devices, I'll just buy something and try it, like maybe this:

Current USA Dual eFlex Pump Kit

 

[MnFish1]

Looking for suggestions for 1-2 powerheads and/or wave makers to get adequate flow in a 40 gallon breeder to try a couple of beginner soft corals (probably GSP and/or Xenia).

*Just did a tank transfer from a 6 month old 37 gallon tall tank so will wait a bit for new tank to mature/settle before adding corals but just want to get the flow equipment first/soon.

Tank is FOWLR and non-coral inverts so far:
-- Only filtration is 2 HOB power filters
-- Tank is in a nook so no room below for sump or anything else external (beyond HOB equipment)
-- Budget is somewhat flexible but lets say $100-$200 is ideal with hard max at $400-$500, only if it really makes sense
-- LEDs are 1x Nicrew HyperReef 50W and 1x Kessil A80 which I think should be OK for first try at beginner softies (probably on the one side under the Nicrew 50W)

Bonus points if you're running a 40B setup you like for fish and softies -- What do you have?
Extra bonus points if you're running HOB filtration (unlikely?) with softies.

*I've seen other tanks running HOB filtration + powerhead for soft corals so know it's possible but if you have a strong opinion against this setup, I am still interested in hearing it, along with what you'd suggest doing, given that I have no room for sump/fuge below the tank.

Here's my current setup in case it helps to see my current aquascape,,, uhhh,,, I mean "rock piles":

1. you're going to have to feed that Starfish
2. You have very Little Rock - so a small gyre - or another pump you can program to provide intermittent flow across the top of the tank should do well.
3. I like the open look!

 

[MnFish1]

PS - in almost any tank - there is no such thing as 'too much flow'

 

[EricR]

1. you're going to have to feed that Starfish

Ha ha ... I think he happens to be just finished digesting a chuck of shrimp in that pic. Had him for 7-8 months (first marine fish/inverts) and he's made 4 tank transfers in that time. (Never target fed him in the beginning, normal is 2-3 time/week at this stage,,, but I'm in MASSIVE OVERFEED mode since I'm scared that the new tank is too clean right now)

2. You have very Little Rock - so a small gyre - or another pump you can program to provide intermittent flow across the top of the tank should do well.

Gyre pumps really interest me but somewhat worried about maintenance after watching BRS video -- if you have a specific one (or two) that you'd recommend, please point me to it.

3. I like the open look!

Thanks. I'm OK with it, I guess. (Meant to plan better before tank transfer but,,, well,,, didn't)

 

[MnFish1]

NICE _ Stars are hard!!!! Agree with the rest

 

[SDK]

I have a mixed reef 40B and use one Nero5 on pulse. Its plenty for the tank and I don’t have it turned up all the way. You will get a better wave motion with a controllable pump, and the Nero has 24 hour scheduling through the AI app.

I run the pulse during the day and have it shift down to a slower, steady stream during the late night hours. It’s worked great over the two years I have had it and is within your budget…

 

[EricR]

I have a mixed reef 40B and use one Nero5 on pulse. Its plenty for the tank and I don’t have it turned up all the way. You will get a better wave motion with a controllable pump, and the Nero has 24 hour scheduling through the AI app.

I run the pulse during the day and have it shift down to a slower, steady stream during the late night hours. It’s worked great over the two years I have had it and is within your budget…

Good to know. Interested to see where you have it (Nero5) and how your rock work is laid out -- will have to go look through your build thread.

I actually like the idea of the AI Nero for a lot of reasons (...no experience, just based on YouTube videos and posts here on R2R) -- on my short list was actually 2x Nero 3's but if 1x Nero 5 is good enough to start,,, hmm...

 

[SDK]

My build thread is very outdated. Here is a super crappy tablet pic without digging out my photo filters. My rockwork is similar to yours without the arches. Low to leave room for coral growth, flow and swimming room. Pump is about halfway down and in the front third

 

[EricR]

AI Nero 5 was sounding good so started doing some more reading.
Saw a TON of complaints (maybe old) about fish getting sucked in.
I see it comes with a "small fish" guard now.
Does that solve the problem people seemed to have with it sucking in fish/snails/etc?

My urchin and starfish climb all over EVERYTHING on the back/sides of the tank.
Wouldn't want one of them (or my small clown or bicolor blenny) getting chopped up.

Thoughts/comments?

 

[Kyle954]

I had the hygger nano on a 32 cube. Only ran it at like 25-50% anything above that it kicked my sand around bad. They are relatively cheap compared to others. You can find them on Amazon.

 

[EricR]

I had the hygger nano on a 32 cube. Only ran it at like 25-50% anything above that it kicked my sand around bad. They are relatively cheap compared to others. You can find them on Amazon.

Thanks -- hygger "Mini Wave Maker" on Amazon was on my list to consider if I decide to go inexpensive just to get going. (Not sure if that's the same one).
Assume I'd need two but would've tried one first to see how I liked it.

I really like a lot of things (just from reading/videos, no experience) about the AI Nero 5 though so figured I'd go for that ,,, until I got freaked out about all the posts noting fish deaths.

*I'm inexperienced at this and don't know anyone with saltwater so my main source of info is,,, yep,,, the Internet (scary thought)

 

[dvgyfresh]

Jebao scp -70 crossflow gyre is all you need , I’m using on a 40b

 

[tharbin]

I ran set ups like yours for 10+ years. They work fine. The problem back then was flow until we figured out that putting toy boat props on powerheads would give us the flow we needed. One small to medium wave pump would suffice but two that are synch'ed at opposite ends of the tank is way better. I used Tunze Nano Streams on my last 40B. I think a pair of Nero 3s would be awesome on that tank.

 

[Jubei2006]

Tunze turbelle nanostream. All my tunze pumps have been running for years, even when neglected.

 

[tharbin]

Thanks -- hygger "Mini Wave Maker" on Amazon was on my list to consider if I decide to go inexpensive just to get going. (Not sure if that's the same one).
Assume I'd need two but would've tried one first to see how I liked it.

I really like a lot of things (just from reading/videos, no experience) about the AI Nero 5 though so figured I'd go for that ,,, until I got freaked out about all the posts noting fish deaths.

*I'm inexperienced at this and don't know anyone with saltwater so my main source of info is,,, yep,,, the Internet (scary thought)

I use Nero 3s on two tanks. A 5.5 gallon coral QT and a WB Mini Pen 15 Mixed Reef. They work fine for me. I like the low profile but I loved my Nanostreams. Last I heard (a few years ago) they were still working on the 40B that I gave to a fellow reefer 14 years ago.

I'm not sure about the references to fish deaths. I didn't spend a lot of time on peer reviews for them but they now come with critter guards if that was the issue.