Too much flow?

[Joestajkowski]

I’m wondering if I have too much flow in my tank. It seems as though no matter where I place my frogspawn it is getting too much flow. I have a 6 foot 150 gallon dual overflow tank. Sicce 5.0 pump which is 1321 GPH. Two Hydor Koralia powerheads - both 1350 GPH. I have the Hydor controller and only run one of them at a time. They switch back and forth every 30 minutes. (Wish I could turn the power down on them but not an option with these).

I know there are some additional things to consider with plumbing to calculate 100% accurate total GPH but in general does that seem like too much flow for a 150 gallon LPS dominate tank?

 

[X-37B]

I have a standard 120 with 2 6095's
and 2 jebao ow-25's.
Each are rated at 2500 gph.
I run pulse flow at 5 seconds on the 6095's and 10 seconds on the ow-25's.
6095' on the back ow-25's on each side.
They all run at 100%.
My frogspawn is on the bottom near the corner overflow and it gets good flow. It also hosts a clown.
Flow through the sump is only 200-300gph.
I am not a fan of high flow through the sump.
You might want to adjust your powerheads to redirect the flow for your frogspawn and or slow down your return pump with a ball/gate valve.

 

[kireek]

It does not sound like you have too much flow .Make sure that nothing else is irritating your frog spawn.I would actually stick my arm in the tank to feel out a good spot. Not scientific at all, it works for me.That said,the ball valve may do the trick!

 

[Jon Fishman]

What about it makes you think it’s getting too much flow? Not opening?


I have 5x MP40’s running 100% reefcrest plus my return, and my Torch/Spawn Elegance, and Duncans are all doing great.

 

[Joestajkowski]

What about it makes you think it’s getting too much flow? Not opening?


I have 5x MP40’s running 100% reefcrest plus my return, and my Torch/Spawn Elegance, and Duncans are all doing great.

It often will look like it wants to open but then as soon as it starts to stretch it looks like it’s getting to much direct flow. But this is hard to believe as it’s near the bottom and both powerheads are at the top, pointed up and at the front and back glass so any flow received by anything in the tank is not direct. Running a dual reactor so phosphate is typically very low. Calcium stays between 420-440, alk stays around 8 or 9. Ammonium and nitrite always 0. Nitrate has been low but I also have been fallow for awhile. Fish just went back in yesterday after 76 day fallow period. Could it be the water isn’t dirty enough? Don’t some LPS prefer slightly dirtier water?

 

[ZoWhat]

Wish you had MP40s. I do and I have mostly LPS and zoas/palys. There is definitely a major difference by NOT overdoing flow.

I have my MP40s only running at 10% and all my LPS (including frogspawn) is larger and "fleshier" / "fuller" with much lower flow. My flow I would describe as "very gentle"

If i jack up my MP40s to over 30% plus, every soft coral immediately gets irritated and smaller. You can witness it with you eyes 30secs to 1min after the MP40s put medium flow thruout the tank. I would descibe medium flow as "random waving of tentacles at a pace that slightly moves the coral structure"

I now control my MP40s thru Apex and I only run the MP40s at 50% power for 10mins twice a day to stir up extra nutrients hiding in low flow areas....so I can get that stirred-up crap out of the tank and to my skimmer

Besides those two 10mins "stir-up" sessions I run flow at 10% which is very gentle flow. The LPS and zoas/palys respond very nicely with full extension (no sign of irritation/stress)

Hth

.

 

[Joestajkowski]

I have a standard 120 with 2 6095's
and 2 jebao ow-25's.
Each are rated at 2500 gph.
I run pulse flow at 5 seconds on the 6095's and 10 seconds on the ow-25's.
6095' on the back ow-25's on each side.
They all run at 100%.
My frogspawn is on the bottom near the corner overflow and it gets good flow. It also hosts a clown.
Flow through the sump is only 200-300gph.
I am not a fan of high flow through the sump.
You might want to adjust your powerheads to redirect the flow for your frogspawn and or slow down your return pump with a ball/gate valve.

My Sicce 5.0 pump has an adjustable flow knob so I will try turning it down quite a bit. Thanks!

 

[Billdogg]

Assuming 0 head loss n your return pump it still only works out to 26x turnover, so no, not too much flow for your tank. I would do as others have suggested and alteer the direction of your powerheads. For best results (randomish flow and good oxygenation) they should be near the sides on the back, about 1/3 of the way down, and angles up and towards the center.

For reference - my 120DT/40 sump combo uses a eheim 1262 for the return (900gph before head loss), and also has 2 x 250 gyres that max a 80%, 2 x koralia 1500gph and 1 x koralia 850gph in tank. I figure that my ~ in-tank flow is around 80x. It is primarily SPS but I have a large Duncan, a huge Elegance, and a Frogspawn all on the sand. They are all thriving.

 

[madweazl]

It's unlikely that you have too much flow.