Articles Index

PUMP PLACEMENT & WATER MOVEMENT IN AQUARIA

The positioning of your pumps or power heads is critical in the home Reef Aquarium if your corals are to thrive and not just survive.

In the ocean around Reefs, the corals that inhabit these areas are constantly in a state of motion. Wave action brings food to these corals and at the same time removes detritus and dead mucous from around the coral.

In the home aquarium we need to replicate this action as best as possible and create an “energy” within the confines of that aquarium. This is easily achieved with a good wave maker and pumps.

It is best to choose pumps/power heads with directional flow outlets this will give greater flexibility when designing flow patterns. We recommend a turnover of 6-10 times per hour from the circulating pumps for a typical reef aquarium, however pump(s) used to transport water from a sump/filter can also, be included in this figure.

Pump placement needs careful consideration for several reasons: firstly to bring water movement around the coral and to facilitate detritus removal and to bring food to the coral .This constant “washing action” ensures good health and growth. Secondly, outflow from pumps should not be directed straight at corals, because laminar flow can be damaging over prolonged periods and does not replicate nature.

By using pumps with directional nozzles, means that you can place the pump on either the back or side panels of the aquarium depending on your aquascape, but generally you will be placing pumps at the top back and the lower front side of the aquarium and preferably hidden behind rockwork etc.

For a typical rectangular reef aquarium, one pump located top left and one pump located top right at the same height, with the outlet nozzles pointing to the centre front of the aquarium will supply, two powerful streams of water colliding just before the front glass. The resulting movement and turbulence will then emanate around the aquarium. A popular idea is to place one or more pumps at the lower back of the aquarium and jetting a stream of water along the entire length, this moves any accumulated detritus into the water column for removal by the filters. At the front of the aquarium, pumps can be placed on either side panel low down for moving water around the front area of the aquarium.

Once you have decided on your pumps positionings and checked that any flows will not be directly aimed at any corals you can then set the timings on the wave maker. It is best to avoid switching the pumps on and off in short bursts, as this shortens the life of the pumps, instead adopt longer run times with a random cycle, but experiment until you find an overall flow pattern that is desirable to your particular aquarium.