Flow troubles - 20 gal AIO

[newreeferontheblock]

Hey folks -

My tank has been up and running for several months now, and I just cant seem to get the flow right. I have an innovative marine 20 with a single MP10, pics below from the front and side. The main problem I am having is that when I run the mp10 low (tidal swell, max 10%) I get a lot of ditritus on the top of the rockwork (when I blow it off with a turkey baster it fills the tank) and even starting to see a bit of cyano at the base of the frogspawn. However, when I turn it up - my corals, starting with the frogspawn, seem to get ticked off. Today I tried moving it closer to the top / front and boosting it to 20%, but frogspawn is already super retracted. My questions:

- If I am keeping mostly softies and LPS, how high should I run the mp40 on a tank this size. I have seen everything from "run it at 50%" which is like 1000 gph to "you should have 200-400 for these types of corals" which is like <10%
- Where should I put the powerhead? What I have seen is "top 1/3rd of the tank between rockwork and front glass" - with my scape there is just enough room for cleaning between the rockwork and front glass. Should I rotate the scape a bit to give more? Do I just need to move some coral around?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Its very difficult to get good flow all through the tank with only one powerhead, you end up with a one-way linear flow which most corals don't like, and you get a lot of dead flow spots.

IMO the best solution is a second powerhead on the opposite side, the flow somewhat aimed at each other to bounce off each other and create random flow patters, this is ideal. 2 powerheads is always better than one.

If you really want only one powerhead, then the best is to position it on the opposite side of the return, again, so the 2 flows bounce off each other.

 

[Heres_doe_]

I would keep it in the same position just drop it to halfway down the tank. I would then take both return nozzles and point them at the front glass crossing paths with the mp. I would also turn up the flow on the return pump if possible and leave the wavemaker at the 10%

 

[PharmrJohn]

Its very difficult to get good flow all through the tank with only one powerhead, you end up with a one-way linear flow which most corals don't like, and you get a lot of dead flow spots.

IMO the best solution is a second powerhead on the opposite side, the flow somewhat aimed at each other to bounce off each other and create random flow patters, this is ideal. 2 powerheads is always better than one.

If you really want only one powerhead, then the best is to position it on the opposite side of the return, again, so the 2 flows bounce off each other.

This is where I was going as well. I've never run a tank with just one powerhead. It's always been one or two on either side depending on tank size. It does make a difference. And it more accurately mimics their natural habitat.

 

[newreeferontheblock]

Thanks all - I will look into an additional powerhead - though probably a bit out of budget right now.

In the interim - I have lowered the vortech to ~10% on lagoon or tidal swell for most of the day, with 10 minutes of a high pulse after the lights go down to stir up any crud, upped the return flow to ~186 gph, and pointed them at each other so they hit perpendicular above where most of the corals should be

 

[Heres_doe_]

Thanks all - I will look into an additional powerhead - though probably a bit out of budget right now.

In the interim - I have lowered the vortech to ~10% on lagoon or tidal swell for most of the day, with 10 minutes of a high pulse after the lights go down to stir up any crud, upped the return flow to ~186 gph, and pointed them at each other so they hit perpendicular above where most of the corals should be

If money is tight look into a jebao slw. I actually didn’t want anything but “the best” when I first started and I like them alot better than Nero as far as flow but not better than ecotech in my opinion.