Newbie in MO

[Kelly Mohr]

Good morning from the midwest US, Springfield Missouri.

I am a newbie here. Currently preparing some water, rocks and substrate in a 30 gallon hex to be transferred into a 40 gallon breeder soon. A friend is helping with the drilling and building me a sump in a 20 long. I am at the moment shopping for water movement devices, please tell me what your experience would be with water movement in a similar size tank and help direct me towards a two separate power head set up or a Gyre and why?

Kelly

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[crusso1993]

Welcome to R2R, Kelly!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[4FordFamily]

Welcome home, you will love it here!

I like the Gyres, especially if you wish to keep SPS because of the type of flow.

Keep us posted with your build with lots of photos!

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[BestMomEver]

Welcome to the reef! As @4FordFamily suggested, gyres are great. I have one and use it in conjunction with a Tunze stream and a few Vortex pumps (MP40 and MP10). Variety is the spice of life!

 

[Kelly Mohr]

So with a 40 being on the nano side of things and maybe wanting to have height to my aquascape once I get everything set up; I like the idea of 2-3 power heads. Mostly seeing the cost advantage. ($-$$) However an icecap 1k ($$) or a maxspect ($$$) may be much more sound an investment for the long run...

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Salty Lemon]

Hi Kelly! I'm so glad you joined us. As the folks above mentiond, they like gyres. I have two in my tank myself. I love mine. For flow you will need 20-50X the display tank volume an hour no matter what brand you get. So you need to find enough to pump 800-2000 gph. You should do fine with a couple powerheads -- one on each side of your tank. Just do your research, and pick out what is best for you. Before I moved to my big tank, I used Hydcor powerheads on my smaller tank. I still used them on my quarantine tanks (20L each). They are inexpensive and do their job. Welcome to Reef 2 Reef!

 

[mike werner]

WELCOME TO R2R!!

 

[BadFish619]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[BestMomEver]

So with a 40 being on the nano side of things and maybe wanting to have height to my aquascape once I get everything set up; I like the idea of 2-3 power heads. Mostly seeing the cost advantage. ($-$$) However an icecap 1k ($$) or a maxspect ($$$) may be much more sound an investment for the long run...

Maxspect and icecap are made by the same company. The icecap is about $100 cheaper. It’s not as heavy duty, but it works fine. My experience with any pump is they require diligent maintenance. The same goes for gyres but they are really difficult to clean. That’s the main reason I bought the icecap. I’m afraid that if I can’t clean it as well as I want/need to, than it’s life will be compromised. I hate to spend $250 on a pump I can’t clean properly. I typically would never recommend buying cheap, but in this case I see no advantage to the extra money for the Maxspect.

 

[Style185]

Welcome! 40B is a sweet tank! I have 1 in my bedroom running a reef breeders photon v2+ 24" and 2 qp5 power heads (one on each side) works pretty well! I do have monti, digi, stylos and a few acros. Things seem happy. I'd say you can get away with 2 power heads I'd like a gyre on my 120 build though

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Kelly Mohr]

Maxspect and icecap are made by the same company. The icecap is about $100 cheaper. It’s not as heavy duty, but it works fine. My experience with any pump is they require diligent maintenance. The same goes for gyres but they are really difficult to clean. That’s the main reason I bought the icecap. I’m afraid that if I can’t clean it as well as I want/need to, than it’s life will be compromised. I hate to spend $250 on a pump I can’t clean properly. I typically would never recommend buying cheap, but in this case I see no advantage to the extra money for the Maxspect.

That makes perfect sense!

 

[Auquanut]

Welcome from a fellow Missourian. Sounds like you're getting some good advice already.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Welcome Kelly! Fellow Missouri reefer here! Saint Louis area. Saint Charles county.

Great advise given! Looking forward to your build. When ready, swing over to the "members tank" thread and post some pictures. We love pictures.

Have any questions, (we love questions!) Just #reefsquad and we'll come running!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Got our male Boxer from a couple in Springfield, Mo. Just a little pup a year ago.

Milo

He's a year old now.