Shallow tank owners

freezetyle · #1 04-14-2010, 06:05 PM

So im going to be setting up a shallow tank(14") in a bit here and have been brainstorming how to combat the sandstorms with a vortech. I am not 100% sold on bare bottom because i like how sand looks. i have debated making a sandbed with some eggcrate, pond foam, and sand but am still not sure. Any suggestions?

Josh (jdigital) did you ever figure out a way to place your power heads so it wouldn't happen?

kien · #2 04-14-2010, 07:02 PM

towards the twilight days of my 104.72g lagoon I did end up putting sand in it (even though it was BB for most of its short life), and had major bare spots where the sand was cleared out from the powerhead. What I noticed that the bare spots where pretty static due to the flow out of the powerhead and around rocks. Keep in mind this was with a tunze 6105 and not a vortech. At any rate, what I ended up doing was just dumping in larger grained sand that would not easily get blown by the powerhead in the spots that the powerhead cleared off. That actually worked out quite well. For most of the tank I was able to use the fine grain that I like and in a few patches I had the heavier larger grains/crushed coral.

The Grizz · #3 04-14-2010, 08:48 PM

new tank is 18" deep that I have set up and have decided to go closed loop, I will let you know how it works when the loop is running.

lorenz0 · #4 04-15-2010, 12:44 AM

depends what your powerheads are rated for. my 6055 tunzes are directed at the opposite corners and i had no issues in a 16" deep tank. just don't point them down or at glass and you will be fine. aim them a tad bit up

Marlin65 · #5 04-15-2010, 01:04 AM

My 3x3 cube is 14.5 tall and I have sand but my flow is split 3200 on a four way. It will most likely end up in a few spots with maybe a bare spot depending on how you place that vortech.

freezetyle · #6 04-15-2010, 01:23 AM

good replies so far. i guess i should have added the tank dimensions to give a better idea of whats being dealt with. tank is 22X19X14. and i had hopes of running my MP20 at full power. The main problem i am foreshadowing is having the vortech too high so it sucks air. if you lower it any it would basically just blow sand. I was planning on putting it on the back to create a circular flow. do you think that placement would help my problems it all?

I guess if some of the bare spots pop up i could always set up a few zoa colonies as a sort of "flow fence" to keep the bulk of it settled.

lorenz0 · #7 04-15-2010, 04:41 AM

as much as i love the MP line, in a shallow tank it seems that your going to have sand issues no matter what. they aren't as directional like the tunze's and so on and do a great job with increasing the area effected by flow. I had a mp10 on my 9" tall tank and i couldn't run it past 40% because either i would have it to high and it would suck air down or if i had it set lower than the water line, the direction of flow would blow sand around at higher settings.

personally i would be looking into the 6055's for a shallow tank

freezetyle · #8 04-15-2010, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lorenz0

as much as i love the MP line, in a shallow tank it seems that your going to have sand issues no matter what. they aren't as directional like the tunze's and so on and do a great job with increasing the area effected by flow. I had a mp10 on my 9" tall tank and i couldn't run it past 40% because either i would have it to high and it would suck air down or if i had it set lower than the water line, the direction of flow would blow sand around at higher settings.

personally i would be looking into the 6055's for a shallow tank

Bah! i was afraid of that.