Flow issue with SPS?

[blstravler]

So I think I have to much flow let me explain..

I have a RS 425xl - (90gal 48x22x22) for flow I have 4 Nero 5’s. Two on each end - with one in the top middle and one toward the front mid way down the tank.
My issue is I keep having Acro’s near the top of my rock loosing tissue, have minimal PE and grow slow and generally in the direction away from from the flow. I’ve checked par and max par is 350 so I don’t believe it is a PAR issue. However the Nero’s at the top of the tank blast the rock and coral. I’ve recently turned the pumps down but with the direct current I’m wondering if it’s too much as things did not improve over a three week period.

On the other hand my green slimmer sits on the bottom of my tank and grows like a weed, has great PE and grows in a more normal pattern. However it’s not getting that hard direct current. In fact all my corals not at the top of my tank all exhibit the same behavior of my green slimmer - all very happy.

I’m thinking about just keeping one Nero on each end mid way down toward the front and maybe put the other two down bottom in the back to help keep flow going behind my rock (I have more of the old school rock wall then an island of rock) or maybe only use two and keep the other two as back ups?

I checked all my water parameters and everything is good. Like I said all corals not on the top of my rock are all doing very well.

Anyone have any thoughts on pump placement? I don’t want to make this crazy complicated but I really do think this is the issue.

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ve blasted SPS w/o tissue loss but then again the pulse was in seconds, not a continuous fire hose type thing ...can you change the interval ?
Also, I’ve learned you can “bank shot” the flow off the glass ...I use this approach for my center powerhead on the back wall pointing towards the front glass

 

[blstravler]

I’ve blasted SPS w/o tissue loss but then again the pulse was in seconds, not a continuous fire hose type thing ...can you change the interval ?
Also, I’ve learned you can “bank shot” the flow off the glass ...I use this approach for my center powerhead on the back wall pointing towards the front glass

I changed the pumps to an anti-sync set up so the pumps pulse for 15 seconds on and 15 seconds off. I can change it to 30 second intervals. Think I may move 2 of the pumps to the back glass point forward.

The other thing I have found with the Nero 5’s is 1% setting is not 1% of flow. At 1% it’s still pushing 900 gph. So with 4 pumps set to 1% I’m still moving 3600 gph on a roughly 90gal tank. Starting to feel like a waste using 4 pumps on such low settings.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Can we see some pictures?

 

[blstravler]

Here you go-

Left side

Right side

Front

Happy to hear any suggestions!

 

[blstravler]

I thought about putting the two pumps side by side in this location - at each end

 

[Dave Cureton]

That’s a lot of flow. My suggestion would be to take 2 offline for a month or two to see if it makes any difference. Or maybe put one near the bottom to help suspend detritus. Definitely hold onto the extra pump(s) as you will need them as frags grow into colonies.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I don’t really see any sideways growth, which ones are you seeing with growth away from flow? Also too much flow should not affect the lower flow side of a coral nor should it make it peel. As long as the four pumps are on wave mode or reefcrest I don’t think they are your issue. If they are set to a low setting I would also say they are not the issue.

 

[blstravler]

I don’t really see any sideways growth, which ones are you seeing with growth away from flow? Also too much flow should not affect the lower flow side of a coral nor should it make it peel. As long as the four pumps are on wave mode or reefcrest I don’t think they are your issue. If they are set to a low setting I would also say they are not the issue.

The growth is hard to see in the pics - most of the coral look like they are growing normal but when you look closer you can see all the new growth is to one side of the original frag.

Nero’s have a pulse mode - I think this is equal to Wave Mode - not sure what would be equal to reefcrest?

For the pulse mode I can set from 1-30 seconds - do you think I am I better off doing a longer pulse?


These are the modes -

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Random is reefcrest. Any pulse is fine, the time between them is up to you. The corals are still small so it’s normal for a frag to start growing in just one direction for some acros and isn’t really because of flow. Over time they should look better as they grow. Can you get pictures of the tissue loss your talking about. Changing up your flow in the whole tank can stress acros that are accustomed to the flow already so be careful if that’s what your doing. I wouldn’t worry about it if it was me, it takes a lot of flow to take flesh off of an acro. Pics of the tissue loss will help someone figure out what’s going on.

 

[blstravler]

Random is reefcrest. Any pulse is fine, the time between them is up to you. The corals are still small so it’s normal for a frag to start growing in just one direction for some acros and isn’t really because of flow. Over time they should look better as they grow. Can you get pictures of the tissue loss your talking about. Changing up your flow in the whole tank can stress acros that are accustomed to the flow already so be careful if that’s what your doing. I wouldn’t worry about it if it was me, it takes a lot of flow to take flesh off of an acro. Pics of the tissue loss will help someone figure out what’s going on.

Sorry for the bad pic - you can see the two white areas where I removed the skeleton that had lost all tissue.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Growth form looks great on that birdsnest. If flow was too strong it would be clustering tightly or growing sideways. Birdsnest are finicky and can have spots of die off from the center, sometimes the problem can be hard to pinpoint. I would only worry if it’s still peeling.

 

[blstravler]

Growth form looks great on that birdsnest. If flow was too strong it would be clustering tightly or growing sideways. Birdsnest are finicky and can have spots of die off from the center, sometimes the problem can be hard to pinpoint. I would only worry if it’s still peeling.

Maybe I’m making an issue out of this in my head and it really isn’t an issue? Will keep my eye on it and if it gets worse will probably take a Frag just to be safe.

 

[kevin_e]

I changed the pumps to an anti-sync set up so the pumps pulse for 15 seconds on and 15 seconds off. I can change it to 30 second intervals. Think I may move 2 of the pumps to the back glass point forward.

The other thing I have found with the Nero 5’s is 1% setting is not 1% of flow. At 1% it’s still pushing 900 gph. So with 4 pumps set to 1% I’m still moving 3600 gph on a roughly 90gal tank. Starting to feel like a waste using 4 pumps on such low settings.

3600 is not too much for SPS. You cluld double that and be fine. The direct flow on the other hand may be an issue. Your tank looks great by the way.

 

[blstravler]

3600 is not too much for SPS. You cluld double that and be fine. The direct flow on the other hand may be an issue. Your tank looks great by the way.

Thank you for saying that - the struggle is real! I did move the pumps so nothing is getting directly blasted. I also found an error in my pump program that had one of the Nero’s going at 75% (about 2600GPH) for 20 minutes pointed directly at the coral in question so i’m thinking this might have played a part.

I also recalibrated my PH probes and as it turns out my PH was 7.9 not 8.2. So will have to fix that as well.

 

[TerraFerma]

That actually looks pretty good tome. I ran a Nero for a while on a 30" long tank. The flow is very wide and I had no problem with it maxed out. Kind of missing my Nero now.

 

[TexasTodd]

Just make sure they're not directly blasting, right above is fine...just adjust as coral grows.

 

[Phildago]

In my experience I've always noticed algae growth on the coral tips before noticing the tissue loss when it came to flow VS tissue necrosis. This could just be my experience with my tank, but it's something I've seen reliably.

I do know that it's a fine line to walk when trying to get good flow to everybody in the tank though.