Surface agitation necessary?

[SeeFu]

Is surface agitation really necessary? I finally found out that all the surface agitation was causing the disco ball effect from my leds at the bottom of my tank. I was thinking maybe bring the gyres lower into the tank to remove some of the surface agitation, but would that cause any unwanted side effects?

 

[rastareefs]

Surface agitation doesn’t hurt, helps prevent a film of organics collecting on the surface of the water. The skimmer, if you’re running one, should be providing enough gas exchange and oxygenation if you want to go away from surface agitation.

 

[35ppt]

You need the surface agitation to oxygenate your water. If you don't like the disco effect you should fashion some type of diffusion. I used a piece of parchment paper under my black box.

/I would not trust a skimmer alone to oxygenate the water.

 

[Proteus Meep]

Tell us more about your setup

 

[AZMSGT]

Anyplace the water breaks provides oxygenation. So if water flows through baffles, or a skimmer O2 is added. Adding it to to the surface only creates more O2 in your system. If you have a sump you likely have lots of agitation already. Keep in mind that if your sump pump dies Oxygen will deplete quickly in the main tank With no surface agitation.

 

[ca1ore]

Surface agitation is absolutely not required. It can be useful in breaking up surface films, but if the overflow is properly configured agitation won’t be necessary. Oxygenation occurs when low oxygen water is exposed to the water/air interface. This requires surface movement, but it doesn’t need to be surface agitation.

 

[35ppt]

Surface agitation is absolutely not required. It can be useful in breaking up surface films, but if the overflow is properly configured agitation won’t be necessary. Oxygenation occurs when low oxygen water is exposed to the water/air interface. This requires surface movement, but it doesn’t need to be surface agitation.

Sure, if he has a sump. But IMO it's odd to reposition your pumps to avoid shimmer when you could just diffuse your lights. You'd loose the shimmer and have better color blending etc. I was surprised how much better a sheet of diffusion made my black boxes look.

 

[SeeFu]

i'm using a radion g5. there's no diffuser available right now.

 

[35ppt]

i'm using a radion g5. there's no diffuser available right now.

If it's in a canopy it would be trivial to DIY something. But if not, it would be more work to make something that looks decent but still, totally doable.

So do you have a sump or not? If you bought g5's you probably also sprung for a nice tank with a sump I would assume. If so, ya like others have said you could move the pumps down. But I wouldn't, might tick off corals. I would still do the diffusion route. Dissolved oxygen is not something commonly tested for so I would rather over do it then under do it.

 

[Mr Fishface]

Surface agitation is absolutely not required. It can be useful in breaking up surface films, but if the overflow is properly configured agitation won’t be necessary. Oxygenation occurs when low oxygen water is exposed to the water/air interface. This requires surface movement, but it doesn’t need to be surface agitation.

I absolutely second this here. Took the words right out of my mouth!

 

[Mike27t]

I tend to get a noticeable film/oil slick when I reduce the agitation.

 

[ca1ore]

Sure, if he has a sump. But IMO it's odd to reposition your pumps to avoid shimmer when you could just diffuse your lights. You'd loose the shimmer and have better color blending etc. I was surprised how much better a sheet of diffusion made my black boxes look.

Meh, tried a diffuser with my gen4 .... pass. Fair point on the sump though. I always assume, not always correctly.

 

[Dylan McKenzie Holloway]

To echo what other people have said I like to have at least a little surface agitation to breakup the film that will eventually form.