Too much flow?

[Mattrg02]

I know it has been said that acroporas can't have too much flow, but could they? I've got a 17g tank (24in long) and have one mp10 going full blast reef crest mode. I also have near zero PE from my acros. Could this be too much flow? The acros are about 8-12 inches away from the mp10.

 

[CoralWealth]

I know it has been said that acroporas can't have too much flow, but could they? I've got a 17g tank (24in long) and have one mp10 going full blast reef crest mode. I also have near zero PE from my acros. Could this be too much flow? The acros are about 8-12 inches away from the mp10.

If you are worried about that, I would try to get more indirect flow if possible in your tank since it is smaller. Or just turn it down to say around 30% and see what happens for a couple days, really wont hurt anything.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I'd turn it down substantially, they like flow but a full blast MP10 in a tank that small is a bit much.

 

[cracker]

got beat to this thread!

 

[Mattrg02]

I know that I never had a problem with PE back when I just had some koralias in the tank. The last acro that had good PE, a WD, looked as if it's polyps we're going to be blown right off it. It's now got them barely out. I'll back it down and see what happens.

Anyone found that their PE improved after lessening the flow?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Anyone found that their PE improved after lessening the flow?

Yes, I had both my return pump and wavemaker pump at full blast (albeit the wavemaker isn't as powerful as a MP10) with a little bit of PE like you're describing. I backed both of them down to 50% and all of my Acros and Euphyllia had better PE the next day. Now they are all pretty happy, my PC Rainbow is really bushy most of the time now. I also started feeding them a reef snow product and that also helped with PE in my opinion.

 

[Mattrg02]

Yes, I had both my return pump and wavemaker pump at full blast (albeit the wavemaker isn't as powerful as a MP10) with a little bit of PE like you're describing. I backed both of them down to 50% and all of my Acros and Euphyllia had better PE the next day. Now they are all pretty happy, my PC Rainbow is really bushy most of the time now. I also started feeding them a reef snow product and that also helped with PE in my opinion.

I know what I'll be doing first thing when I get home today

 

[ejazzle]

I've blown the skin off of a few acros from too much direct flow.

 

[Mattrg02]

I've blown the skin off of a few acros from too much direct flow.

Would you say that you saw an immediate improvement upon dropping the flow? Maybe corals need to be acclimated to stronger flow?

 

[jda]

Yes, they can have too much. You can melt skin off them them, keep polyps permanently retracted and have them grow in the direction of the flow. There is a sweet spot, but every tank is different. My tanks have sand and I like to have just enough so that the sand does not blow around - this is a wavebox and a pair of 6200 Tunze on a 240g tank.

 

[Mattrg02]

Yes, they can have too much. You can melt skin off them them, keep polyps permanently retracted and have them grow in the direction of the flow. There is a sweet spot, but every tank is different. My tanks have sand and I like to have just enough so that the sand does not blow around - this is a wavebox and a pair of 6200 Tunze on a 240g tank.

I just dropped it down to 50%, witch is 50 times turnover. Sound good?