Water flow

[Calireefer92]

hey reefers new to the hobby i wanted to talk about and ask questions about water flow how much should I have? I have a dc vector m1 at the 8th led and have a maxspect gyre at 60 percent do I need more flow?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

How big is your tank and what kind of corals do you have/plan to get? That might help others answer.

 

[Calireefer92]

I have a Red Sea reefer 425lx the main display is 88gallons. I do not have corals yet. I just set the tank up in May so I let it cycles for a month and a half. I do wanna do a mixed reef

 

[DonAqua]

I would like feedback as well. Any suggestions to create the best water flow? I am new to reefing but have a 300-gallon tank and have 2 gyre 250s (currently on both ends of the tank mounted close to the top) and have been looking at adding the MP40s (since I am already running Radion lighting and control) to create more and different types of flow. I would like suggestions on a configuration for creating the best flow for corals in the tank.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

@DonAqua it totally depends on your aquascape and the corals you'd like to keep. For example, if you're going with the wall of rock look I'd suggest adding some powerbeads near the back of the tank pointing to the sides to help clear detritus. But if you have a pillars-style formation going on then that's less necessary and you'll be able to get more flow with less. I'd suggest looking at your tank size on YouTube and see what other people are doing for flow!

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

This video is pretty helpful!

 

[Ento-Reefer]

I like running 4 or 5 power heads to help create chaotic and random flow. I usually run one or two on each end and a couple on the back facing forward. I watch my corals to see how they respond and shoot for 35-50 x the tank volume per hour. I have a mixed reef and these levels seem to work best. If you are keeping mostly sps you may want to go higher.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

And you do want to make sure you're not blasting the corals with one direction of flow -- they don't get that in nature; it's better to create the chaotic flow as described above so the corals are moving in different directions.