help me rearrange my flow for my Sebae Anemone

[ken6217]

I have a Sebae nem for about two month that is healthy. He is under a rock at the top of the tank. About 50% of it protrudes out from under the rock.
He is open but he never looked like a big nem.

The tank is a 39g Rimless that is 24" wide by 20" back to front. I have two Vortech MP-10EWS. One on the left and one on the right side of the tank set to continuous. They are not directly opposite each other and so they don't really cancel each other out. So obviously there is a lot of flow.

Today I took out both units to clean them and the only flow in the tank was the minor flow from the return pump.

I left the tank for a few hours while the Vortechs were soaking in vinegar and when I returned, I couldn't believe what the new looked like. He was like 3 times the size and wide open and completely out from the rock. I never realized how beautiful he was.

So now I know it has too much flow. Any suggestions if I should use one, or two powerheads again. If two, any suggestions on placement and flow speed and type of speed? Maybe Random mode etc? If one, where would you place it?

The nem is approx is 9" from the right glass. This means there is about 15" to the left side of tank. Btw, tank is SPS tank.

I want proper flow for the tank but not enough to inhibit the nem.

Thanks,
Ken

Thanks,
Ken

 

[bradleym]

SPS require too much flow to make it easy in a small tank. In a large tank, you create flow for SPS and put the anemone in a dead spot where the flow is less. In your tank there is no dead spot as big as an anemone.

For the SPS you will want to have 2 powerheads to avoid huge dead spots. For the anemone, you may be right about using random. If not, try pointing one across behind the rock up at the height of the anemone and the other across the front below the anemone. But you may still need to turn the flow down.

 

[spicytuna]

Why don't you experiment with one powerhead and see what happens. My tank dimensions are very similar to yours and although I don't consider it an sps tank, the sps colonies I do have are quite big, and I only run one mp10. Even if you run 2, try the wave motion. Nems love to sway gently, and it moves a lot more water then you would realize in a non aggressive fashion.

 

[ken6217]

Thanks for the replies.

Actually my current configuration is same as what Bradleym mentions.

I will try the random mode and also slow down the speed. Right now I am running it in continuous mode at about 75-80% power.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[davocean]

If your sebae is a crispa and you also have sps in there, you're going to need to adjust more than flow pretty soon, as it will reach about 2 feet in diameter and sting everything it touches, and eventually it will be touching everything.

 

[ken6217]

If your sebae is a crispa and you also have sps in there, you're going to need to adjust more than flow pretty soon, as it will reach about 2 feet in diameter and sting everything it touches, and eventually it will be touching everything.

It is still only about 6". I have quite a ways to go. It has almost the entire right side of the tank with no corals around it. By the time it gets big enough to become a problem, I'll either dedicate more space to it, or sell it to another experienced reefer.
Ken

 

[Winwood]

If your sebae is a crispa and you also have sps in there, you're going to need to adjust more than flow pretty soon, as it will reach about 2 feet in diameter and sting everything it touches, and eventually it will be touching everything.

+1

Just a side note, my crispa seemed to not affect my plating Montiporas as much for some reason. They could grow closer to the anemone without suffering too much damage. Any acro that it touched was almost instantly nuked as well as digi montis.