How to define Low, Medium, High Flow?
- Thread starter GuppyHJD
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ZoWhat
10K Club member
You don't measure it. It's subjective with your eyes
Best to really studying the food you feed and WATCH as it flows around the tank
Low = a food particle flowing across 6 inches of water (the length of your hand) in about ~ 6 secs
Med = in about 3-4 secs
High = in about 2 secs
.
Best to really studying the food you feed and WATCH as it flows around the tank
Low = a food particle flowing across 6 inches of water (the length of your hand) in about ~ 6 secs
Med = in about 3-4 secs
High = in about 2 secs
.
OP
OP
GuppyHJD
Valuable Member
My wife is laughing at me and my fish are enjoying the experiment, but the stop watch is all over the place...I am going to try a video
I figure mine using in-tank turnover rate and tank size. You can add in the return pump outflow if you account for head pressure.
So let's use my tank as an example.
120g DT. Mixed reef, mostlly SPS
2 x Maxspect Gyre 250's that max at 70%, ramp from 10% to 70% and back down (any more than that and I get a waterfall over the side) = ~4200gph
2 x koralia 1500gph on alternating timer = 1500gph
2 x koralia 850gph - both on max = 1700gph
That makes my total average in-tank flow ~ 7400gph
7400/120 = ~62x average, with peaks higher and lows lower.
I consider that to be relatively high flow
Medium flow would be in the 30-40x range, and low flow 10-20x.
That being said, there are areas in the tank that are very high flow, others that are more protected by the rocks where the LPS are happy.
What you need to avoid are any dead spots where detritus can accumulate. The pair of 850's are positioned to blow behind the rocks to keep detritus from piling up.
So let's use my tank as an example.
120g DT. Mixed reef, mostlly SPS
2 x Maxspect Gyre 250's that max at 70%, ramp from 10% to 70% and back down (any more than that and I get a waterfall over the side) = ~4200gph
2 x koralia 1500gph on alternating timer = 1500gph
2 x koralia 850gph - both on max = 1700gph
That makes my total average in-tank flow ~ 7400gph
7400/120 = ~62x average, with peaks higher and lows lower.
I consider that to be relatively high flow
Medium flow would be in the 30-40x range, and low flow 10-20x.
That being said, there are areas in the tank that are very high flow, others that are more protected by the rocks where the LPS are happy.
What you need to avoid are any dead spots where detritus can accumulate. The pair of 850's are positioned to blow behind the rocks to keep detritus from piling up.
Mr. Mojo Rising
7500 Club Member
I always assumed it referred to placement in our tanks. I think most have high flow on top where we agitate the water surface, medium flow in the middle because we cant blast flow directly at our corals, and near the sand is low flow since we dont want sandstorms.
