Powerhead / wavemaker help.

[I am Maul]

I'm just getting my 65 gallon reef going again, and want to get a couple of powerheads/wavemakers to help with circulation / water movement. I read through a few threads, and a lot of people were recommending MP40 or similar. My question is if this is overkill. The MP40 is rated at 1,000 gallon per hour. I grabbed a cheap 800 gallon per hour on ebay because it seemed like this would be really high flow. The 800 gallon is practically blowing my only 2 remaining fish around the tank. How much flow should I have?

 

[jsker]

I have 2 gyre 130's and a MP 40 in my 72 dt I have the MP 0 down low at 35% and the gyre on top at 50%

 

[mcarroll]

To paraphrase someone great: It's not so much the size of your flow, it's how you use it.

If you don't care about the pump being controllable (predominantly a feature for you more than for the tank....I use some of each) I'd recommend two or three Turbelle® nanostream® 6045's ($78).

A strong, very flexible pump that won't break the bank – just right for your size of tank. The ball-part is 2.7" in diameter, for perspective. The photo makes them look as large as their bigger Stream cousins. ;)
(Assuming for the recommendation that you have a standard 36" long tank.)

If you have the budget for four of them ($312) you wold have a major amount of flow in the tank and be able to do a killer tide-simulation type of flow.

Two pumps anywhere on one side of the tank run for a few hours, both more or less in the same direction, pointing to the other side of the tank. After a few hours, timers switch them around so the first two pumps are OFF and the two pumps on the other side of the tank run for a few hours by themselves.

Simpler to do than explain....make sense though? Just requires a couple of appliance timers or a basic controller to pull off – nothing fancy – and corals tend to love it. Having four flow sources will really allow you do reduce dead spots in the tank to a minimum too – even as corals grow in.

Some other models that might be interesting too if you have some specific goals or features in mind:

• Turbelle® nanostream® 6020 ($43)
• Turbelle® nanostream® 6040 ($140) – 6020 and 6040 are transverse-mounted propellor pumps
• Turbelle® nanostream® 6055 ($185)
• Turbelle® nanostream® 6095 ($230) – 6055 and 6095 are more traditional wide- and wider-flow powerheads on the infinitely adjustable ball-chassis, like the 6045.
• Nanostream® Rock ($53) and Stream Rock ($78) are ceramic/"live rock" covers for all but the transverse pumps if you want to hide the pumps in your rocks.