Certain fish hide when wave makers on

[AllanPritchard]

Hi All

I have noticed that whenever I'm doing maintenance and switch off all pumps (return, closed loop, MP10's and CP2) on my 400 lt tank, my Firefish come out and swim around and my clown fish swims around a lot more. As soon as any pump is back on both Firefish retreat to their rock holes and are never seen except for the occasional glimpse to snatch some food.

Has anyone else noticed this with fish behaviour. It seems they like the tank very calm rather then turbulent. The other fish
- Smiths Blenny
- Lamarck Angel (not an angel, maybe a fallen angel)
- Yellow Tank
- Malanurus wrasse
- Banggai Cardinal
don't seem to mind the current,.

Was wondering if I should do a mimic of a lagoon at low tide and do a slack tide for 30 min each day?
, any thoughts

Cheers
Al

 

[blaxsun]

Artist’s impression of your tank.

In answer to your question, no - my fish don’t flee in terror whenever the wavemakers or pumps start up. They usually know that it’s the cue for the dinner bell.

Yea, you could certainly vary the types of waves you generate during the day as well as intensity.

 

[Isopod80]

I have a firefish that does the same thing with my wavemaker. I allow for some down time off and on throughout the day. It works well.

 

[AllanPritchard]

Artist’s impression of your tank.

In answer to your question, no - my fish don’t flee in terror whenever the wavemakers or pumps start up. They usually know that it’s the cue for the dinner bell.

Yea, you could certainly vary the types of waves you generate during the day as well as intensity.

That's the cue for mine too, but dinner time is only 4 minutes before the nutrient export kicks in to keep the food suspended. I wish my tank looked like you picture, I'm sure the firefish see it that way, I believe my 2 MP10s are undersized for the 1.5m length of tank. the closed loop and the CP just generate some flow to stir up the back of the tank.

 

[AllanPritchard]

I have a firefish that does the same thing with my wavemaker. I allow for some down time off and on throughout the day. It works well.

How long is your down time out of interest and are you keeping SPS or LPS corals? (I'm only doing LPS currently, so a little more forgiving).

 

[Isopod80]

I have everything. Softies, lps, sps and nps. I do roughly 30 min. Of downtime every 3 hours. I also have flow from other sources to pick up the slack so it's not like it's without flow during that time.

 

[blaxsun]

That's the cue for mine too, but dinner time is only 4 minutes before the nutrient export kicks in to keep the food suspended. I wish my tank looked like you picture, I'm sure the firefish see it that way, I believe my 2 MP10s are undersized for the 1.5m length of tank. the closed loop and the CP just generate some flow to stir up the back of the tank.

My tank is 750 litres and 2m in length, and I run a pair of Red Sea ReefWave45 gyres at each end. For fish feedings the return pump drops down to 5% and the wavemakers turn off for 6min. For fish+coral feedings I kill the return pump and wavemakers for 10min.

Here’s my wave schedule. Numbers in the setting are the % power forward/% power reverse and the type of wave motion. My tank is a mixed reef; mostly soft and LPS, but with probably a dozen or so SPS as well.

 

[AllanPritchard]

My tank is 750 litres and 2m in length, and I run a pair of Red Sea ReefWave45 gyres at each end. For fish feedings the return pump drops down to 5% and the wavemakers turn off for 6min. For fish+coral feedings I kill the return pump and wavemakers for 10min.

Here’s my wave schedule. Numbers in the setting are the % power forward/% power reverse and the type of wave motion. My tank is a mixed reef; mostly soft and LPS, but with probably a dozen or so SPS as well.

Thanks for that, I'm going to be doing a new tank build next year (new house) of a similar size. I will look into the redsea reefwaves. Cheers Al.

 

[ZoWhat]

Firefish if I remember right are deep water fish....and those fish don't want turbulent water

Obviously if they are hiding, you are doing them a dis-service

 

[zuri]

could be too much flow most firefish like to hover somewhere visible in the tank when they feel at home can always test we often overdo flow lights.
When I started out I ran my leds too close to the water an much too high intensity no corals but all my fish would hide under the rockwork par was crazy high. fish can be burned under to high intensity I found out not surprising if you have ever putt your hand under leds even under water they slowly start heating up