ripple question...
 

hi i was just wondering if i really need to point on of my powerheads up so there is a ripple on the water, the water moves everywhere in my tank (you can see items move back and forth) but do i really need to have one pointed up when i have a corner overflow that airates the water (you can see little bubbles everywhere then it falls to the sump)

I think that when your overflow isn't working for any reasons, at least you have a pwrhead helping you aerate your water, that is, if the power is still on, or if the said pwrhead is plugged into a battery backup system.
Or when there's a dead organism in your tank (unnoticed) and is using up your O2 at night to decomp, your overstocked fishes might die of oxygen depletion, etc.... Many reasons to just be safe, and point one at the surface of the water.:biggrin:

Sometimes I find the scum likes to take refuge in little stagnant zones on the water's suraface...especially in corners so I find having at least one aimed slightly towards the surface helps with this.

You need to orient it upward because of the water aeration, not really for the ripples. Also the ripples help to slow down the heating of your tank via the lighting, especialy if you have metal halide. It also help the dissipate the rays of light on some corals that might not get enough light as the rays bounce everywhere. Without enough ripple the light will enter directly and the shadow areas will remain in the shadow without any bouncing of the light.

So there are many advantages of orienting a pump upward and creating ripples, the main being oxygene but also light distribution in dark zones.

Make all the ripples you want, just make sure they head towards the overflow box.

The biggest thing about ripples, or the lack of is the ability for the water to exchange the CO2 created in the water with fresh O2. You can rely on your skimmer to do this or an air stone, but as many have found out when things like their skimmer quite, they soon have sick/dieing fish.

Using a powerhead is the best/cheapest way to do this gas transfer. So I would always recommend it.