15 Reasons Why Current/Flow are Essential

[MUCHO REEF]

Flow/current, via wavemakers, powerheads etc, serves many vital purposes.

1. Flow/current helps to keep live rock clean and clump free from settling detritus.

2. Aids in cleaning off polyps that slough off by means of external cleaning.

3. It carries much needed food/nutrient to corals.

4. Often greatly enhances skirt length over time if on the medium to higher end.

5. Helps to remove waste and slim when new arrivals are stressed.

6. Moves uneaten food off the reef to allow other inverts on the substrate easier access.

7. Helps with surface water movement via oxygen/gas exchange.

8. It helps with calcification.

9. Causes a natural water sway/movement, back and forth motion which is extremely natural.

10. Current reduces shaded areas allowing more light penetration.

11. Causes a glitter line affect for Metal Halide users. Glitter lines are often viewed/seen in the ocean and it is a means of punching light deeper into ones system. The fluctuation from light to dark is a very natural one.

12. Prevents coral bleaching.

13. Current helps with evaporative cooling of the tank.

14. Prevents stagnation.

15. Removes film from the water surface, which increases light efficiency

 

[RevHtree]

Cool list!

 

[nalbar]

Hmmmm...

Yet all my tanks have done well without either power heads OR wave makers.


Not sure I buy a lot of the above list, but on RC most believe the more equipment, the better.

Particularly equipment that doses something! Then it is REALLY cool.


nalbar

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I don't think most RC reefers believe that nalbar. I don't believe the more equipment the better and that my friend is not what I stated at all. I'm a minimalist just like yourself, we spoke about that once before. You mentioned your tanks have done well without powerheads and wavemakers. I also stated "etc" after that, meaning any type of device which facilitates water movement. The post was not about devices, it's about current, via any means available.

In your tanks that did well, are you saying that you had absolutely no water movement at all and your tank did well? Just curious?

 

[650-IS350]

all these do pretain to reefkeeping in general.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I agree delsol650, the above is no secret, I just thought I would share it is all.

 

[A.VOID]

Forgot >>

Looks amazing under moonlights!

 

[nalbar]

It's all a matter of degree MUCHO.

Amongst 'reefers' there is an attitude that if 15X is enough then 25X is better. Well, if 25X is better, then 35X must be REALLY better. Then somebody posts he has 50X and people go 'WOW'.

C'mon, admit that you have seen that here! There is no doubt in my mind that RC is an equipment prone site, which is saying a LOT considering reefing itself is an equipment prone hobby.

It's not that I am claiming your list includes things that are not 'good', it's just that many can be achieved without a LOT of flow, or can be achieved in other ways.

#7 for instance, can be achieved with well placed surface overflows, which would be a far more efficient method than a power head anyway.

I am no expert, but I do know what my eyes tell me. Flow, if taken over a certain level (which I believe is pretty low) has trade offs in growth and looks when it comes to zoo tanks. My experience is that they do NOT like PH type flow. Certainly mushrooms don't like it.

Kinda off subject;

Reefing is an interesting hobby because in many was it is counter-intuitive. Most times it is better to do nothing than to do something fast. The old reef adage 'Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank' is VERY true. Yet this is against virtually all human nature. It is a very human attitude to tinker, mess with, and in general make things more complicated. In other words, to be INVOLVED in the process. Just watching the process run its course is difficult for us.

So gradually stuff becomes more complicated, more equipment is needed, more dosing is required. Then the people who have become 'invested' in a particular method or theory or piece of equipment or dosing chemical will not tolerate contrary opinions, even though their 'evidence' is strictly anecdotal. (deep breathes MUCHO, I am not speaking of you specifically, remember... with humor)


Back to topic;

I think flow is an example. Someone says 'slime!' and someone else says 'Powerhead!' and a PH goes in. When it might be better (and certainly 'prettier') to just syphon the slime out or wait it out.

So it is not that flow is not needed, or that it is not a 'good' thing, it's how much works in a particular system. Where many say, 'do 25X and then you are covered', I say 'will 10X let me accomplish the look I want in this tank?'

And every single time 10X has accomplished that.

A caveat;
This is the zoo forum. I know NOTHING about SPS or LPS. I have NO clue as to their requirements. What I am talking about is softy tanks, which to me are zoo/shroom/ric tanks.


nalbar

 

[flyyyguy]

i agree with you on some levels nalbar.......but I think the point that is missed by many, especially those who think more is better......... is that more flow...is not necessaily better flow.

If it isnt positvie flow that works with your aquascaping to eliminate dead sposts as well as get crap suspended, to the overflow and ultimately to your skimmer to be permanently removed, then more flow isnt going to benefit you like it would if set up right. Well thought out flow is the key and less can be more effective than more in some cases

turnover rate, like watts per gallon and pounds of rock per gallon among other "rules" is a poor way to quantify or measure how good or efficient of a job you are doing.

jmo

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Nalbar, this is the second time you have done this. The first time I wasn't clear in my remarks so I cleared that up with you in a later post. The link is below. I feel it's personal. You are going to say that I have a problem with someone disagreeing with me. That is your right, and I have no problem at all with that.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1329525&highlight=nalbar

Now you have chosen to do it again, so I will try to do the same. I posted 15 essential reasons, ( the reasons are the benefits ) one will receive from the above. You will find them in any reef related book written by anyone of 4 authors that I'm aware of. If you'd like, I can find each book and title and provide the page numbers. If you don't agree, that is your right my friend. The 15 that I listed above are not secrets as Delsol as already referenced and are widely accepted. I mentioned previously that this thread is not about Powerheads, wavemakers or devices, it's about flow/current. What you are referencing above, is turnover. I'm not speaking of turnover, that's an entirely different topic. Closely related, but not the internal water movement I am referencing in the title clearly stated above. Again, I'm not talking about 10x, 15x, or 25x turnover rate. I'm only speaking of water movement within the tank. This thread is about water movement, NOT ABOUT HOW WATER MOVEMENT IS ACHIEVED. I don't care how you achieve it, I'm speaking of the benefits, the BENEFITS of water movement.

"Flow/current, via wavemakers, powerheads etc, serves many vital purposes. "


The very first thing I mentioned is FLOW & CURRENT, whether it is with a powerhead, wavemaking device or ETC. None of the 15 I posted mention anything about TURNOVER.

It's obvious you have a problem with my post and I can't apologize for what I right. I just hope it helps others.

Once again, this post is not about turnover, it's regarding internal water flow/movement.

PS, I don't know the turnover rate of my return pump. I don't know if it is 5, 10 or 50x. It's not important to me, but that's just me.


"Flow/current, via wavemakers, powerheads etc, serves many vital purposes." The 15 are the vital purposes.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

By the way, everyone will agree with you, including me regarding the craze of excessive turnover 10x, 20x & 50x, how much, how little etc. I agree with that, but that's not what my post was about. Tell me you can see that now? Come on.

 

[650-IS350]

Some times when they say bigger is better, but it really depends on what you have in your tank that determines what type of flow or turn over ( IE' 25x 50 x or what ever ). It all depends on what type of corals are there, there requirements to keep and if you have a sand bed ( small, deep etc ) or are you running Barebottom. All these variables change depending on need. Like my self I have a 100gal tank and use 4 hydor #4s that run 1200gph meaning Im running 4800gph? I don't run a sump so the total volume turn over from a large sump back to the main tank is meaningless to me. But if we want to go with VOLUME movement in a tank then I would say I'm doing 48x volume movement. There are also variables here in the type of pump you have for the water movement. Some pumps are direct flow which emit a direct cylinder type flow out of the pump which at time can be super strong and some like the Hydor's and Tunze's which are indirect flow. which broadcast's somewhat of a 360' degree flow which evenly distributes water thru out the pump. My 48x volume movement might not be as strong as someone who has a cylinder flow type water movement like a seio or mj1200s. but mine broadcasts thru out the whole tank not just at a direction where the pump points.

to get back to my point, sometimes depending on what your keeping like my self FULL reef ( SPS, LPS and ZOOS/PALY's ) you have to design your pumps, overflows etc. accordingly to what your keeping , how the pumps flow through the tank and how the movent of water carries around to the overflow.

Some corals like LPS don't like too much water movement and actually can be detrimental to their health. Scolys, brains, chalices etc. like slow to moderate flow. compared to SPS that love strong to high flow with strong lighting. You have to calculate for tank length, rock formation , Coral placement and how the corals environtment should be for good health ( Feeding, lifestyle and over all happines )

I'm no expert but just read a lot and talk from my own experiences. Hope this dosn't confuse people more that helps. LOL

SORRY DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO PROOF READ, TYPING THIS REAL FAST BEFORE LEAVING FROM A 12HR DAY A WORK.


Charles-

 

[MUCHO REEF]

This thread took a left turn really quick.

 

[MinibowMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12073080#post12073080 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nalbar
Hmmmm...

Yet all my tanks have done well without either power heads OR wave makers.


Not sure I buy a lot of the above list, but on RC most believe the more equipment, the better.

Particularly equipment that doses something! Then it is REALLY cool.


nalbar

I cant even touch this one.. Some peoplejust like to argue.. If nalbar doesnt think flow is important, it is certainly his perogative. If he can maintain a tank with the benefits listed above,without flow, then he is most certainly a master reefer, and should be writing books to tell us how he does it. and I hope he would make more money selling his book then any of the authors I normally look to for advice.

PS.. I didnt read anywhere in mucho's post where he said you had to have X number of flow, or said it has to be acheived by adding X pump/ph/flow device...he simply stated how the benefits of flow can be seen in a reef tank.. specifically pertaining to zoa tanks in his opinion.

 

[kylesmoney]

everyone takes everything so personally on rc. cant everyone just get along

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I think there are disagreements everywhere. This sight encompasses tens of thousands of people, disagreements will abound. The difference is how they are handled.

Welcome btw to the forum. I see this is your first post, so I hope you'll stay around and share your tank with us.

Again, welcome.

 

[650-IS350]

I totally agree with mucho in all aspects, I was just trying to answer NALBAR prior to leaving work after a 12-13hr day.

 

[rad1687]

[violation]

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Come on rad1687, you know we don't allow FLAMING here. I think you owe this gentleman an apology. It's ok to disagree but those remarks are a direct violation of RC rules and aren't allowed my friend. That's not who we are here.

Mucho

 

[650-IS350]

Did I miss something here Mucho. what was said and to who? just PM me. DOn't want to aggrevate the RC police. LOL