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- Jun 16, 2009
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IME it is hard to impossible to get a tank, of almost any size, proper flow with only one powerhead.
On my 50g I actually have 3. One blows behind the rocks and blows everything out, one in the back right corner blowing over the top of the scape and bringing food down to the LPS on the sand, and an MP 10 on the side on reef crest. All 3 go on and off and cycle throughout the day so the flow is never consistently one thing.
It took me about 5 years in the hobby to realize just how important keeping the water moving different directions really was, and honestly the next 10 years to kinda master it. It makes a huge difference IME in keeping the tank clean, and keeping everything healthy. So many issues are caused by to low of, or wrongly placed powerheads. I am glad you are tackling it at the start.
I would give your cycle a few more day, making sure to keep the ammoinia at or below 1ppm (if it goes over 1ppm it kills the bacteria you are trying to grow), and then start dosing some bacteria and some live phyto. Work the chain up smallest to largest. Bacteria, phyto, pods, then fish.
Hope that helps.
On my 50g I actually have 3. One blows behind the rocks and blows everything out, one in the back right corner blowing over the top of the scape and bringing food down to the LPS on the sand, and an MP 10 on the side on reef crest. All 3 go on and off and cycle throughout the day so the flow is never consistently one thing.
It took me about 5 years in the hobby to realize just how important keeping the water moving different directions really was, and honestly the next 10 years to kinda master it. It makes a huge difference IME in keeping the tank clean, and keeping everything healthy. So many issues are caused by to low of, or wrongly placed powerheads. I am glad you are tackling it at the start.
I would give your cycle a few more day, making sure to keep the ammoinia at or below 1ppm (if it goes over 1ppm it kills the bacteria you are trying to grow), and then start dosing some bacteria and some live phyto. Work the chain up smallest to largest. Bacteria, phyto, pods, then fish.
Hope that helps.