Random flow question on new tank

[djamr]

Hi,

Been in the community for a while, but new here. We did a major remodel of the house and with the demo we sold my old tank and I'm receiving a new tank (5'Lx3'Wx2'H) on Saturday and I'm starting to get into the details of the build. The tank is peninsula-style, but it will be against the wall after discussions. The tank will be primarily softies (LPS, Zoa, shrooms, et) and a couple of sticks. For flow I plan on the following:
1. Return (2 on the "left" side) from a 15k l/hr pump @70%
2. (1)Gyre on the right side running constantly at 60-70%
3. 4 powerheads spread evenly along the back wall of the tank (top right, mid-lower-right, mid-lower-left, top left)

I planned on turning the powerheads on and off at set intervals to create turbulence. Never less than 2 pumps on at a time. We typically feed between 5-7pm.

Turn on P1 0000-0600, 1200-2200 *18 hours
Turn on P2 0500-0900, 1000-2100 *16 hours
Turn on P3 0800-1400, 1700-0400 (+1d) *16 hours
Turn on P4 0600-1600, 1800-0000 *19 hours

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P1

Right T

1​

1​

1​

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1​

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1​

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1​

1​

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P2

Mid Bot

1​

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P4

Mid Bot

1​

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1​

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1​

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P3

Left T

1​

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1​

1​

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# of Pumps

2​

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Does this make sense given the information provided?

 

[KrisReef]

I think it makes sense as a description of turbulence, (sorry ).

I really don't have a good visual of the tank / pump interactions. A diagram with pump locations and rock formations with the foot print 5 x 3 (Very nice! BTW!) might be easier to assess.

But, the bottom line of your table (pumps on each hour) does make me see planned chaos each day. I am not certain if hours 12-21 with 4 pumps on might provide too much water flow/ chaos instead of random flow that comes from pumps powering up and down randomly (I am thinking Jebao random setting).

I would have my lights on during hours 12-21 based upon your above graph.
I might cut back on a few pumps especially at night so the fish can rest, and maybe a few during the day to prevent swimming them to death? (I mention this because I swam a fish to death with the idea of having so much water movement the corals and liverock would be constantly swept clean.)

So, I would set the powerheads up first, without gyre and return running and observe how much motion each setting presented creates and dial that in (up or down) once you can see what motion you are getting in the tank. HTH.

(My wife told me that fish looked tired )

 

[djamr]

Thank you for the response, sorry I've been busy with work and the last two days getting the tank setup. Who knew plumbing would take so much time. But the tank just passed the leak test, making RO to make salt and hope to post a build thread soon. I thinking ok swapping out my simple on/off powerheads for something more controllable based on the thoughts of giving them some time to sleep, something that will let me reduce the flow at night