SPS Flow?

Twolabs443 · Jul 10, 2018

Flow seems to be one of the items especially important for keeping SPS. Being relatively new and inexperienced one of the things I struggle with, and find the hardest to determine in this hobby is whether or not I have the proper flow in my tank. Many of the parameters in reef keeping are quantifiable and measurable, but flow always seems to be a vague figure or description to me. High, medium, low, direct, indirect, random, variable...what exactly do those all look like in person. I know powerheads all have flow ratings and most people say 50X is the number to go for, but with all of the different tank dimensions, aquascapes, powerhead placement, and stocking, even that number becomes somewhat unclear if it's the magic number. With all that being said I was wondering if maybe I could get some feedback on what some of you experts

think about the flow in the attached video, at least for this one piece of SPS? If there is any interest I would love to see some more videos of what other people have for flow and how it is working out for them!

BigJim · Jul 10, 2018

It looks good to me. You want to see the polyps moving randomly as they seem to be doing. The polyps wouldn't be extended like that's if the acro was not happy with the flow.

29bonsaireef · Jul 10, 2018

Imo the flow you have in the video is the kind I like to see, and your corals seem to be enjoying it.

Hard to explain flow without visual representation, but high flow from various directions is what most shoot for. There is a such thing as too much flow, but that really only happens if a powerhead is blowing at a constant stream right into your corals. Too low of flow is much easier to determine.

Twolabs443 · Jul 10, 2018

29bonsaireef said:
Imo the flow you have in the video is the kind I like to see, and your corals seem to be enjoying it.

Hard to explain flow without visual representation, but high flow from various directions is what most shoot for. There is a such thing as too much flow, but that really only happens if a powerhead is blowing at a constant stream right into your corals. Too low of flow is much easier to determine.

Great to hear I seem to be on the right track! I felt like it looked pretty good and this acro seems to be doing very well, it's grown out to this point from just a small 1" frag back in early March. I agree that flow is hard to explain without a visualization. I always seem to second guess myself and think it's either too much or not enough...Right now I am struggling with a couple frags I just got that are showing very little PE so I was extra worried about flow being the cause. At first I thought it was perhaps a low Alk level I ended up with, but most folks seem to say Alk doesn't have an effect on PE.

redfishbluefish · Jul 10, 2018

After visiting a local friends SPS loaded 180 gallon with 10 to 12 powerheads and watching Dana Riddle's Macna talk, I added two more MP40's and an MP10 to my five foot 90 gallon tank, now with 4 MP40's and an MP10. No such thing as too much flow.

Here's Dana's talk....take note of flow portion starting at around 24.45.

Mattrg02 · Jul 10, 2018

So what kind of turn over should we be seeing? I’ve got two mp10s in my 35g display, plus a sicce 2.0 for my return pump. That should put me near 100x turn over. Good?

Twolabs443 · Jul 10, 2018

redfishbluefish said:
After visiting a local friends SPS loaded 180 gallon with 10 to 12 powerheads and watching Dana Riddle's Macna talk, I added two more MP40's and an MP10 to my five foot 90 gallon tank, now with 4 MP40's and an MP10. No such thing as too much flow.

Here's Dana's talk....take note of flow portion starting at around 24.45.

Great video. I love research driven data. I find I can wrap my brain around it more than observational or anecdotal opinions. Wish I had 5k to get a device to measure flow! Lol. I may try and get my hands on a par meter though.

If i was just tying to keep an SPS tank I would agree that you can’t get too much flow really. If that was the case I think I would just go bare bottom and get some serious flow going. Keeping a mixed reef and sand bed though it gets trickier to try and get that balance for everything.

Twolabs443 · Jul 10, 2018

Mattrg02 said:
So what kind of turn over should we be seeing? I’ve got two mp10s in my 35g display, plus a sicce 2.0 for my return pump. That should put me near 100x turn over. Good?

What do you have your mp10’s set at? If they are running at 100% you should be near that 100x for sure. Sounds like plenty of flow to me. I would love to see a video of what your flow looks like

Mattrg02 · Jul 10, 2018

Twolabs443 said:
What do you have your mp10’s set at? If they are running at 100% you should be near that 100x for sure. Sounds like plenty of flow to me. I would love to see a video of what your flow looks like

100% reef crest

None of my acros have any PE, so all you would see are my fish going all nuts.

Twolabs443 · Jul 10, 2018

Mattrg02 said:
100% reef crest

None of my acros have any PE, so all you would see are my fish going all nuts.

I would love to see it! Have you seen any better PE with less flow?

Mattrg02 · Jul 10, 2018

Twolabs443 said:
I would love to see it! Have you seen any better PE with less flow?

I tried going down to 50% on both mp10s, but didn’t see any difference. Got an ICP test pending to make sure I don’t have any tank AIDS, or similar, before I try other things.

Twolabs443 · Jul 10, 2018

Mattrg02 said:
I tried going down to 50% on both mp10s, but didn’t see any difference. Got an ICP test pending to make sure I don’t have any tank AIDS, or similar, before I try other things.

I hear you. I’m pretty new to the hobby and feel like this most times when it comes to trying to keep things balanced.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 11, 2018

Flow seems to vary amongst aquarists and I found best success with my SPS in a 360g , is flow from Ecotech 40's and 60's at under 20%.

Mattrg02 · Jul 11, 2018

How about, how long does it take to see a positive or negative reaction after adjusting flow? Hours, days, weeks? I could try taking my flow down to 50% to see if I get any PE back.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 11, 2018

Mattrg02 said:
How about, how long does it take to see a positive or negative reaction after adjusting flow? Hours, days, weeks? I could try taking my flow down to 50% to see if I get any PE back.

It takes time ( weeks to months) in some cases as Acros/sps survive with stability and stable is not an overnight effect but rather steady, long term effect

ZaneTer · Jul 12, 2018

I have 4 large powerheads in the tank on a timed rotation. Any 2 going at any given time with a 5min rotation until the next pair takes over. PLC controlled.