Do you think this is bad, good or it does'nt matter

[sleezyp1]

I was thinking of putting my powerheads on the same timmers with my lights.
Setting aside any powerhead dammage issues. Do you feel its a good idea?
The reason is, the powerheads run 24/7/365. This in turn consumes alot of energy. Also I know from being on the boat around here early in the morning and late in the afternoon the winds tend to die down creating less water movement and pick up during the day. Is this the same on the reef? I still will have flow with the return on 24/7.

 

[qy7400]

I think it's a good idea if you have reliable powerheads. I'm currently running 2 Tunze 6100 off a multicontroller, when the lights go out the pumps drop to their low speed setting until the lights come back on. The option was built in for me so I can't see Tunze adding a feature that would be considered a bad practice. I do also remember reading that sea currents on a reef do slow down at night.

 

[Pseudo69]

Off is Waaay different then low! This is not a good idea if all of your powerheads are off.

 

[teen]

i would leave at least one or two on, maybe shut down the other one or however many you have in your tank.

 

[pecan2phat]

I think that I asked this a few years ago on the SPS forum but regarding a closed loop. Pretty much same in theory.
I was told no because if you dive, you would know that the current underneath does not shut down come sunset.

 

[qy7400]

I think there are a few answer to this question, what should really be asked first is the livestock and it's requirements. Yes an all SPS tank should keep a steady flow at all times but if this is a softy or fish only the flow requirements may not be as high. Whats also not know here is the the return pump. If the turnover rate from the return pump is say 15 to 20x would this not be enough for a fish or softy tank? Keeping in mind the original question was to shut the in tank power heads down only.

 

[Spracklcat]

Bad idea. Your corals are depending on that current for nutrient exchange, removal of wastes, etc. And what you read above is correct--even when the waves die down the water flow at the reef is WAAAY more than we are giving our corals. Definitely leave them on.