Flow: how important is it?

Chicagoreef2016

Chicagoreef2016

New member
So I have a 9 month old tank, dipping my toe in with SPS (bird nest and couple others I am told are hardy SPS). How important is variable and "high" flow? I have a 60 cube and have a couple Jabao RW 8s, which when they are both on seem to blow everything around real good. So much so my RBTA sways around a decent bit and I am afraid he will decide to pick up shop and move. With my rock structure I seem to get good flow with 1 pump properly angled. That being said my birds nest isn't doing well. Assuming proper lighting and good water parameters, how much does flow impact the health/coloration of SPS?
 
IMO, provided everything else is "reasonable", flow is the most important factor.
 
With two rw8 on a 60 gallon you're probably fine.


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Chicagoreef2016 said:
Thank you all. Being new to SPS this helps tremendously. I will re-start my 2nd RW8 and let the good times roll.
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Yeah, you don't really have to worry about having too much flow. Positioning an Acro directly in front of a powerhead isn't a good idea as direct flow can be a problem.

Fwiw, my display is 36 x 21 x 21" and I have (3) Tunze 6055 (1450 gph each) on a controller in an aggressive setting. They are often all on at full blast which is only 60x turnover and is enough for now while the Acros are still fairly small. My last SPS tank was over 100x turnover once the Acros were grown in.

zsuman101 said:
when my fish are pinned to the glass , i back the flow down a tad
Click to expand...

Hahaha! :bounce2: I always say when the water jumps out of the tank I turn them down a bit. That's what eurobracing is for! :D
 
Myka said:
Yeah, you don't really have to worry about having too much flow. Positioning an Acro directly in front of a powerhead isn't a good idea as direct flow can be a problem.

Fwiw, my display is 36 x 21 x 21" and I have (3) Tunze 6055 (1450 gph each) on a controller in an aggressive setting. They are often all on at full blast which is only 60x turnover and is enough for now while the Acros are still fairly small. My last SPS tank was over 100x turnover once the Acros were grown in.



Hahaha! :bounce2: I always say when the water jumps out of the tank I turn them down a bit. That's what eurobracing is for! :D
Click to expand...

Thanks. I think part of my challenge is, being new to this I put some "easy" LPS and softies in to begin with and am getting more daring as I get closer to the 1 year mark. Now having a mixed tank (Palau nepthea, 4 types of zoas, RBTA, maxi mini, GSP on an island, mushrooms, trumpet, duncan, and now 3 SPS) I am challenged with getting the appropriate flow for each coral. These cubes reflect water around like boomerangs. Moving up the flow for the SPS puts my duncan hiding. Or my nepthea thrashing around everywhere. Going forward I will have to be more selective in what I put in, and/or take out as I progress towards 1 style of tank. Or...maybe I will just get a bigger one at some point.
 
What I find easiest for me is to keep the sps higher in the tank & the lps lower. That way I can have more flow in the upper half of the tank then on the bottom. I place my powerheads about midway down & point them more towards the surface. It keeps the flow up at the top without blasting the lps that are towards the bottom.
 
As long as you are not ripping the tissues from the corals, the more the better. Also, keep in mind that flow requirement will change as your corals grow. Once the frags become colonies you need more flow to get to all parts of the corals. My 60 cube started with 1 MP10, when I took it down I had 2 mp10 and a Gyre 130. If you do not increase your flow from time to time, you probably should look into doing so.
 
It depends. Radom is better than static. Wave motions are the most effective, IMO. I can grow massive, well formed colonies with just a wavebox and a pair of Tunze 6100s on a 8x2x2 tank. Without the wavebox, I would probably add another six pumps the size of a 6100 in the 3500GPH range. The wavebox also gets into all of the nooks and crannies of the colonies.

You do not need so much that your fish are stressed and skinny and die all of the time or that your colonies get all malformed. You can have too much flow.
 
jda said:
It depends. Radom is better than static. Wave motions are the most effective, IMO. I can grow massive, well formed colonies with just a wavebox and a pair of Tunze 6100s on a 8x2x2 tank. Without the wavebox, I would probably add another six pumps the size of a 6100 in the 3500GPH range. The wavebox also gets into all of the nooks and crannies of the colonies.

You do not need so much that your fish are stressed and skinny and die all of the time or that your colonies get all malformed. You can have too much flow.
Click to expand...

can explain what a wave box is or where to buy one? I wanna look into this
 
I have a OG Tunze Wavebox (the smaller one)... and one where I made a box out of Acrylic with a Tunze Pump and Tunze Wave Controller.

They are not the same thing as a flow pump on "wave" mode. ...not even close to the same affect (or is it effect?).

Edit - I will never run a SPS Tank again without one.
 
jda said:
I have a OG Tunze Wavebox (the smaller one)... and one where I made a box out of Acrylic with a Tunze Pump and Tunze Wave Controller.

They are not the same thing as a flow pump on "wave" mode. ...not even close to the same affect (or is it effect?).

Edit - I will never run a SPS Tank again without one.
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thanks for bringing this up. I will look to see if it makes sense on a 24x24x24 cube, but certainly from the few videos I have watched this looks perfect for a rectangular tank.
 
Chicagoreef2016 said:
Very interesting, thanks for bringing this up. I will look to see if it makes sense on a 24x24x24 cube, but certainly from the few videos I have watched this looks perfect for a rectangular tank.
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how bout 3 mp10s and and mp40 in a 24x24x20 cube, oh and a sicce return pushin aprox 750 gals/hr, now thats fish pinning flow. btw acans getting acro flow, try it they love it.
 
zsuman101 said:
how bout 3 mp10s and and mp40 in a 24x24x20 cube, oh and a sicce return pushin aprox 750 gals/hr, now thats fish pinning flow. btw acans getting acro flow, try it they love it.
Click to expand...

how large are your acro colonies? that sounds like A LOT of flow. what are the mp10's aimed at? sand blowing around in that size tank?
 
No sand blowing although when the reef was younger the sand would fly. I guess bio film holds it down. I have great polyp extension with the crazy flow. seems to work for me. Good luck... zsu
 
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