How much is too much flow?

[cope413]

Hello everyone,

I'm a bit of a newbie in the hobby. I just recently got my 3rd nano tank up.

Had an 18g I kept in college for 3-4 years, then a 24g aquapod for a couple of years, and I just resurrected the aquapod in January.

I was always broke, so I pretty much kept whatever people were giving away, and my equipment was always just "good enough".

That's not the case any longer, so now I'm in the position of having better stuff but not knowing much about it. So that's where I'm at...

Stock:
Purple Firefish
Six line wrasse
cleaner shrimp
CUC (4 nassarius, 5 hermits, 7 astreas)
pink birdsnest
palm tree polyps
xenia
hammer coral
frogspawn
hollywood stunner chalice
green birdsnest
small 4p acan (no idea of name)
brain coral (2-3")
candy cane 3p

My tank is/was pretty happy for the past 6-8 weeks.

I had 2 tiny 80 gph pumps I was using as powerheads to up the flow while I shopped/researched permanent options.

I landed on the WP-10 and installed it this weekend.

My hammer coral had 4 heads when I got it, and 3 of the heads are splitting, and the 4th looks like it's about to start. It's been very, very happy. Gets big and spread out. Frogspawn is also in the process of splitting. The pink birdsnest has grown quite a bit in the last 4-5 weeks.

Those 3 pieces have been my barometer of tank happiness because they were the first pieces added.

After adding the WP-10, it seems everything is pretty unhappy. I played with a bunch of different spots and settings, and for the last 2 days I've had it on the side by the intake, about mid way up, aimed across the tank and slightly up. It's on W1/S3, which seems to be the lowest setting I can get it on.

The hammer, frogspawn and brain all look really unhappy now. Not receding yet, but nowhere near what they looked like before the change.

Is this to be expected with a big change in the tank? How long should I wait to move them or change the flow?

I don't like to overreact with stuff because nature is incredibly resilient, but I also don't want to lose anything.

I just ordered a bunch of stuff from someone breaking their tank down on R2R, and it's arriving tomorrow.

I put the WP-10 on a schedule to come on 30 minutes before the lights do, and to turn off when the lights turn off.

Nothing I've read suggests it's too much flow for my tank, but if things don't look better when I get home from work today, I'll be very tempted to revert back to my previous setup until I can get some feedback or other suggestions.

I've got 5-6 new pieces arriving in the mail tomorrow from another forum member, so I want to make sure everything is good for acclimation.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Bad Company]

I am pretty new to corals. But, I'm pretty sure that any change will make them not look happy until they adjust. Following along...

 

[JSaquatics]

Some times when you do a change when corals are used to something they once was used to they will react in a different way with something new. I'm not to familiar with the wps but from what I read that the stream that they put out is straight and I use echotech mps and they have a wide flow pattern that is not a direct stream of water. I would put back the original pump for a few days and see how your corals react

 

[PaulKreider]

Well you jumped from 160gph to 530+ gph, that's a BIG change, 5x the flow will definitely shock corals.

Is it too much? I don't feel like it is, as long as you're not blasting it directly at the coral.

I would set it at a faster pulsing cycle and move it lower in your tank then aim it up. Should avoid too much direct flow at this position.

And I keep my powerheads on all night, keeps the water flowing around the corals which they use to get oxygen. If theres no flow in the tank for extended periods of time (12 hours every night) this could upset them too.

 

[cope413]

I was actually at about 300gph because my return pump is 140gph. The 2 80s were added for the SPS.

But when you say it like that, it makes more sense - just about an instant 2x increase in flow.

I'd like to have it running 24/7. Sounds like I'll just need to watch it, tinker with some different positions and settings and be patient.

I'll report back after another day or so with some pictures.

Thanks

 

[PaulKreider]

I use Hydor 1050's on my 55, so I'm not very familiar with the WP-10 settnings, but yes when I turn both on at once jumping from 1050gph to 2010gph, I get some polyp retraction on a few corals.

 

[rjcranor]

I have a wp25 in my 50 gallon. I have it down about 6" and 4" from the back. Have it pointing slightly upwards and towards the back. I have mind set on w1 s2 and use the light sensor. I've heard you don't want to stop your flow it should be giving some flow always.

 

[cope413]

the WP10 doesn't have the night sensor, but the timer I've got it on is fine for now.

 

[MechEngineer]

no wp10 has a night sensor, the night setting is programmed at the time you want the "night" setting to start, which will reduce the flow, but I never had luck with a mp10 on a nano tank, overkill unless on lowest setting, cheaper to just get a 250gph coralife powerhead. I use two mp10s on my 90 gal and on low settings

 

[PaulKreider]

no wp10 has a night sensor, the night setting is programmed at the time you want the "night" setting to start, which will reduce the flow, but I never had luck with a mp10 on a nano tank, overkill unless on lowest setting, cheaper to just get a 250gph coralife powerhead. I use two mp10s on my 90 gal and on low settings

Not an mp10, a wp-10, different brand, they come with a sensor to adjust usage when lights are on/off.

 

[MechEngineer]

Oops my bad! Haha

 

[MechEngineer]

So yeah thats a big flow upgrade, now I remember why I didnt go with the Jabeos, mp10s can go down to 200gph

 

[MechEngineer]

*Jebao's

 

[Eric N]

Put them in a protected area like an eddy. I run about 5000-6000 gph in my 120 for the sps, but it's set up so the frogspawn and anemone are protected by the live rock and other more sturdy corals.

 

[cope413]

So just to update, nothing looked happier on that 3rd day with the WP running, so I put it on a timer that ran it for 30 minutes every 2 hours (30 minutes on, 90 minutes off). It took 2 days for everything to get happy on that schedule, so I upped the time on the timer by 15 minutes every day until it was always on. Everything looks great now and it's running 24 hours.

Moral of the story - acclimation is your friend - especially in small tanks where even "small" changes amount to a lot.

Thanks for the input.