Ideal Flow?

[Richmond]

I currently have two jebao pumps setup to create a gyre in my tank. They've got a pretty decent wave going. Curious on other's feedback, as far as "ideal flow". Would any changes be suggested? Is this too much flow?


I give up trying to get this to play; click the pic for a gif of the wave.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

There really isn't a specific ideal flow. It really depends on your tank and what all you are keeping in it. If for example you have a soft or LPS dominant tank then you don't want the pumps blasting water across them as it can stress the corals or in some cases damage them. Many LPS cannot handle super high flow and can get injured easily, so you want a more gentle flow across them to keep them moving. For SPS however you can really crank the flow up as many prefer/need much higher flow patterns. A word of caution on this as even SPS can become stressed if there is too much flow on them or if you're blasting them in one direction all the time.

In my tank it's a LPS dominant tank with some SPS. It's a 75g and I am running a pair of Jebao PP4's on either end of the tank about 2" from the surface. I have them set on alternating pattern with a 30 second pulse on power setting 4. This is enough that my SPS and gorgonians are happy, and creates a nice gentle alternating flow pattern for my euphyllia so they extend nicely and are not stressed. With my pumps set this way I get a strong flow pattern from say left to right across the top, that rolls down the far end and then across the bottom of the tank in the alternate direction. After 30 seconds the pumps revers direction and created a turbulent roll wave across the top portion of the tank then reverses flow across the bottom of the tank. My returns are aimed to the top middle of the tank for surface agitation/gas exchange and also creates turbulent flow in the middle of the tank where my euphyllia garden is.

This setup works well for my tank, and one that I stumbled upon as I was dialing everything in when setting it all up. So it may not work well for everyone.

 

[wsoldier]

In my tank it's a LPS dominant tank with some SPS. It's a 75g and I am running a pair of Jebao PP4's on either end of the tank about 2" from the surface. I have them set on alternating pattern with a 30 second pulse on power setting 4. This is enough that my SPS and gorgonians are happy, and creates a nice gentle alternating flow pattern for my euphyllia so they extend nicely and are not stressed. With my pumps set this way I get a strong flow pattern from say left to right across the top, that rolls down the far end and then across the bottom of the tank in the alternate direction. After 30 seconds the pumps revers direction and created a turbulent roll wave across the top portion of the tank then reverses flow across the bottom of the tank. My returns are aimed to the top middle of the tank for surface agitation/gas exchange and also creates turbulent flow in the middle of the tank where my euphyllia garden is.

This setup works well for my tank, and one that I stumbled upon as I was dialing everything in when setting it all up. So it may not work well for everyone.

Would you mind posting a screenshot of your Apex schedule (or whatever scheduling tool) you're using? I'm having issues with setting up my powerheads as well. Thanks!

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I'm not running an Apex. I am just running a pair of PP4's linked as Master/Slave and set to alternating pulse I think it's the second to last flow option on the master controller. Then adjusted the dial to point to 1-2 o-clock, and set the power to 4 dots showing.

This video at about the 3 minute mark shows how to set the pump controllers into Master/slave to link them together.