flow for a 10 gallon?

[Gilraen]

I have been told that I need to aim for about 40X turnover in there some places and that "more is better" but that I should try for at least 10X turnover. Since there's obviously a lot of difference between 100 and 400 gph, I was wondering what you guys suggest.

 

[Agu]

Depends on the corals you want to keep. For my softies and LPS 10 gallon nanos I have barely 300 gph turnover and that works for me. I could get away with less but I prefer to have two water moving devices in a tank just in case one fails.

For SPS you would want higher flow and probably some sort of wavemaking device to make flow more random.

 

[Gilraen]

Guess that would have helped. I was planning to keep a couple/few SPS near the top of the tank, and some LPS, zoas and FL rics through the rest of the rockwork, with some GSP isolated from the rest of the rocks at the bottom. If I got 2 powerheads that were around 200 GPH, maybe a little more, would that be okay, or too much/little?

 

[wuster77]

200GPH each or total? If 200GPH total, then I would say a bit more flow, but then it might be okay if you have your sps near the pumps, just make sure the water is not blasting into the corals.

 

[Gilraen]

How would 360-ish be? I've got an aquaclear(forget which one, so I'll just assume the lowest power one, which is rated at 126 GPH) and I was thinking about getting a koralia nano, which is rated at 240 GPH. Would that be a good amount in there?

 

[wuster77]

Yea, I would say with about 360, you are set to go. But the extra koralia nano is a good addition too.

 

[xskyzx]

I would think 1 k1 or better yet 2k nanos in there if there's space.

 

[Gilraen]

I can do that too, I was thinking about doing that at first anyway. Would the 2K nanos be too much for the LPS in the tank? That was my only concern.

 

[wuster77]

I am sure you can adjust the flow so that it won't affect your lps, but then don't you already have 360gph without any koralias. Add 2 k-nanos, you will have 800gph+. Not sure if you need that much flow in a tank that is not predominantly sps. Plus, 10 gallon tank is not even that large, so it will look clustered with equipment (personal taste that's all).

From what I hear from others, it's not the total amount of flow you have in gph, but how your flow is distributed in the tank. Just don't want dead areas.

I started with about 20x, which is not much, but I only had live rock and fish for a year. When I added by sps corals and one frogspawn, I upped by flow to about 40-45 back in December 08. I heard that you should be able to see the polyps move around in the current, plus I had small areas with low flow, so I increased it to about 60x now.

Start out slow with corals and observe them often. You can always add more flow to the tank as needed.

 

[Gilraen]

Gotcha. I'll just get one koralia nano(would make the flow 360) and if that isn't enough for the tank I'll replace my aquaclear with another nano.

Thank you guys

 

[cveverly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14389269#post14389269 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gilraen
Gotcha. I'll just get one koralia nano(would make the flow 360) and if that isn't enough for the tank I'll replace my aquaclear with another nano.

Thank you guys

Let me know how you like the Nano. I have a K2 in my 10 and it is a bit much. I was thinking about going to a K1. I also use a HOB filter that I can control the flow on.

 

[herostar]

I would get one nano and one k1. This way you have lots of options.

I used to have a K1 and an aquaclear 70 modded as a refugium for flow in my 10g and it was great.

 

[bluegrizzlies1]

In my 12 gallon aquapod I have 2 k nanos and the return pump maxi jet 900 I have lots of flow for sps up top and my softies and lps are lower and they are just fine.