15 Reasons Why Current/Flow are Essential

[NanoReefWanabe]

mucho i have to agree with you...

to me flow is the most crucial element in a reef tank...of any discipline..(softies, LPS, SPS)

i would consider flow more important then lighting...

low lighting generally leads to less colour (sometimes more colour deending on the type of coral)....BUT, low flow generally leads to dead coral...

i would like to add that good flow will also help the coral expel waste...and not to mention brings vital O2 to them...or N2 or what ever the heck it is that a coral breathes..i once remember reading that a coral dosent have functioning lungs so to speak...and in order fro it to breathe O2 has to pass by the coral, try to imagine your self standing int he middle of the road holding unable to draw in air for a breath, yet holding your lungs in your hands praying the wind kicks up enough to fill your lungs...(another reason that coral placement is vital, yet completely moot without good flow...)

 

[Reefman79]

I learned alot on this thread.

 

[shootist]

Im with you Mucho,these animals are all about flow,I too consider it along the same levels as lighting. If you dont have good flow in your tank it is a matter of time before you have some big time problems. Ive done a bit of experimenting with zoas/palys in my frag tank providing some with little or no flow and others of the same species with moderate to high flow,hands down the animals with a lot of flow grow much faster and look better. People who suggest that animals from the ocean will do better with little or no flow obviously know nothing at all about the ocean. People obviously have access to the internet just google 'ocean video' or 'reef video' see what sort of flow these animals have in the wild. We arent curing cancer or doing rocket science here folks,just trying to replicate nature in some small way.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12100940#post12100940 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefman79
I learned alot on this thread.

Great, that was the sole purpose of me posting this, to share and to help someone.

 

[Stixbaraca]

I am constantly trying to get "more productive" flow in my tank, and feel that it may be one of the most important aspects in our tanks.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

What are your current sources for flow?

 

[Stixbaraca]

I have a 58 gallon Oceanic. For main tank flow I use 2 Tunze 6025s. I keep them in the back up high on the sides of the tank. They face towards dead center on the front viewing panel. Then I use a Seio in the middle of the back facing forward. I try to get it so that all 3 water streams collide...that way the flow becomes random in essence.

I don't have a million bucks to blow on equipment...but you don't really need it as long as you use what you've got more efficiently.

I think the main thing with flow is to try for random flow. In my mind that bad thing is to have laminar flow...or a steady unidirectional flow. This type of flow is usually created by powerheads. A good way to overcome it is to have multiple powerheads facing each other so that when they collide the flow gets thrown in many directions randomly.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12106455#post12106455 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stixbaraca
I have a 58 gallon Oceanic. For main tank flow I use 2 Tunze 6025s. I keep them in the back up high on the sides of the tank. They face towards dead center on the front viewing panel. Then I use a Seio in the middle of the back facing forward. I try to get it so that all 3 water streams collide...that way the flow becomes random in essence.

can the tunze nano's be used on a wave tiver/ maker? that would be far more effective then having them crash into one and other..

i think too in your tank you could have gone with the 6045's...you have a lot of water to move around in there...

 

[MinibowMatt]

my current flow in my 50G (36x18x17) consists of my return pump which is a mag7, but it is also powering a frag tank, so it isnt a huge contribution, and a Velocity T4 CL , 1200gph running with an OM squirt 4way . one output to each corner, and my main tank return is in the center. I get a nice varied flow pattern, and it is certainly not a massive turnover rate like some have.

 

[Creetin]

11,000 Gph here in my 180 and my corals seem to hang on by the skin of thier teeth. LOL For me its more flow.
They look happy and grow pretty fast.

 

[Stixbaraca]

seatbelts on your corals!!

 

[RevHtree]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12130708#post12130708 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Creetin
11,000 Gph here in my 180 and my corals seem to hang on by the skin of thier teeth. LOL For me its more flow.
They look happy and grow pretty fast.

LOL! As I read this and looked at you avatar it all came together for me and I could literally see the teeth of your coral!

I have a wild imagination! :lol:

 

[Creetin]

The avatar stuck with me somehow.

 

[Creetin]

That didnt work sorry.

 

[mfinn]

good information

 

[IridescentLily]

OMG, a thread about flow!
Sheesh, it's like digging for gold around here, lol.
I'd love to see what you folks do with your flow or current (the non conductive kind lol) in your tanks.
I hope Flyyyguy sees this thread. He has some definite ideas about this. And his set up is very educational, even though it occasionally goes over my head.
Do any others of you have ideas about flow that you can talk about? I was surprised to read, I believe it was Bornemann again, writing that zoas and palys can adapt to some parameters, but he went on to say that even so, they do need medium (as opposed to low flow), and medium light, in order for them to do their best. I found that interesting.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Current is just as important as lighting and parameters in my book. You can have optimal flow and the best lighting with Par off the chart, but if your parameters are bad, well, you'll just have a nice looking tank for a while till everything goes south. Just my 2.

Mucho Reef

 

[dtpollard]

Ok. Tme for my 2 cents. I have lived both sides. My tank is old. I have had this same tank for almost 13 years. ( I still have some (3)original corals from then.) I started with a lower flow system and some things flourished. i.e. Mushrooms and LPS. Some things did not. ie. clams and zoos. I used to throw mushrooms in the trash they grew so fast. I could not keep zoos alive. I upgraded the lights from VHO to MH and the zoos stopped dieing and the mushrooms receded. My friend a fellow reffer said he could not understand how my tank did so well w/o flow because my tank looked much better than his. I added a Koralia 2 and the zoos sarted growing. I added a second K 2 and the tank flourished but they would not work w/ a wavemaker. So I added 2 small powerheads (Via Aqua) to the wavemaker. One blows across the bottom back of the rock scape and the other right through the middle of the display to create random current. Know everything seems to do better. My zoos love the flow. My People Eaters require it to live. Clams, Mushrooms, zoos, even sps.
+1 for flow.

 

[Reefer07]

I have noticed an increase in growth due to my added tunze 6045 yo my 29g tank. Many of my mushrooms have died though as my lighting par has increased.

 

[IridescentLily]

Interesting