Question about flow

Asian Hurricane · Jul 2, 2020

Hi all,

I had a question about the amount of flow I have in my tank. I have a 20 gallon long tank (IM Nuvo 20g Peninsula) that is about 30in long. The tank came with a mighty jet that goes up to 325 gph and I have an aqamai kps that pumps Between 375-1050. So my question is if I have too much flow going on in there. I have about 20 pounds of live rock that is all in the middle like a straight line. The return pump is going at max so it is about 325 Gph presumably. The KPS is on a preset schedule but it hovers around 50% so it might be doing around 600-700 gph. Combined this may be around 1000+ gph for the tank. Is this too much? And if so what should I be targeting for the return pump as well as the KPS setting. It has been running on this for around 2 months.

I currently have 2 clown fish in there as well as around 6 frags of various LPS corals.

Thank you in advance for any and all help!

andrewey · Jul 2, 2020

Would you be able to take a video of your tank (stabilized on a table or chair), particularly of your coral? That will be the quickest way to tell. Just because you might have 50x flowing through the tank, it could be too much or just right

There are a lot of numbers thrown around, but they are all just ballparks- it's like chicken sexing- you just know good flow when you see it

Asian Hurricane · Jul 2, 2020

andrewey said:
Would you be able to take a video of your tank (stabilized on a table or chair), particularly of your coral? That will be the quickest way to tell. Just because you might have 50x flowing through the tank, it could be too much or just right There are a lot of numbers thrown around, but they are all just ballparks- it's like chicken sexing- you just know good flow when you see it

Sure! Might will not be able to until tomorrow but I will try to get something. I was wondering if you know If the return pump needs to be a certain gph for the aio sump. The rate is adjustable so I was not sure if there was a minimum.

Reef. · Jul 2, 2020

The return is not that important in an aio, as long as it’s enough that the water is getting heated, then I would say that’s enough, the powerheads I would say as much as the LPS look happy, as much as they will take, IMO the more the better, don’t think you can have too much, as long as everything is happy, then all good.

Uncle99 · Jul 3, 2020

Flow seems in the 40x-50x turnover, which might be a bit much for all except SPS.
How do your corals look?
Do they look stressed?
Overblown?
If not, it’s not too much