Balancing flow for stylos

[razorskiss]

I have two stylos in my tank, a milka and a teal that seem to prefer different flow levels. Initially I had flow only from one direction because i was only able to get one Nero 3 in stock. The milka was super happy, polyps completely extended all over but the teal wasn't as happy, polyps were only partially extended. I finally managed to get a 2nd nero3 and run them opposing with 90 degree phase and now the teal Stylo is super happy but the milka had retracted by about 50%, polyps are still out but nowhere near as fuzzy as before. What am I to do? Is the milka more likely to adapt to higher flow or the teal to lower flow? Should I reduce the intensity of flow from each side to approach the total volumetric flow I had initially or have the same intensity of flow, just now coming from alternating sides but nearly twice the total volumetric rate now?

 

[Spare time]

Have you tried angling the flow so that it's not directly hitting them? My Stylo does well when my power heads colide at the surface of the water

 

[razorskiss]

Have you tried angling the flow so that it's not directly hitting them? My Stylo does well when my power heads colide at the surface of the water

I think I'll be able to offset the one facing the milka to move it out of the direct cone while keeping the teal in it

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have two stylos in my tank, a milka and a teal that seem to prefer different flow levels. Initially I had flow only from one direction because i was only able to get one Nero 3 in stock. The milka was super happy, polyps completely extended all over but the teal wasn't as happy, polyps were only partially extended. I finally managed to get a 2nd nero3 and run them opposing with 90 degree phase and now the teal Stylo is super happy but the milka had retracted by about 50%, polyps are still out but nowhere near as fuzzy as before. What am I to do? Is the milka more likely to adapt to higher flow or the teal to lower flow? Should I reduce the intensity of flow from each side to approach the total volumetric flow I had initially or have the same intensity of flow, just now coming from alternating sides but nearly twice the total volumetric rate now?

Mine do well at indirect moderate flow and moderate light

 

[Spare time]

I think I'll be able to offset the one facing the milka to move it out of the direct cone while keeping the teal in it

For reference, I have the milka stylo. and similar style powerheads/wavemakers. The way I have it is the two wavemakers collide above the stylo, pushing water down through the colony

 

[razorskiss]

I think this ended up being a combination of light level dropping and too much flow. I've had my Kessil A360x in acclimation mode and raised it up a bit as the peak intensity came up to get better spread, but I likely misjudged how much intensity would drop after going up 1-2 inches vs my acclimation ramp. I dropped the 2nd Nero and lowered the light this morning and the milka is looking much happier. Brought the 2nd Nero back on but with both running at a much lower output and milka is still happy and the teal is happier too now. I'm planning to add some LED bars to reduce shadowing, I'll probably do the BRS par meter deal at that point so I can calibrate par levels throughout my tank so I know where things stand for sure.