How much flow is too much?

isseym328

Premium Member
Hey guys and gals,

I have a 60g cube with predominantly sps, some softies, 3 fishes, 3 clams, and a carpet anemone. I originally have a Koralia 4 and a old power head in there for flow. The K4 is used for general flow for the tank, but the older, weaker powerhead has been aimed directly at my sps patch on the top side of the tank. So lately I have been wanting to get more flow for the sps section and wanted to retire my older powerhead. Picked up another K4 from a fellow reefer and here were the results:

1. Sps polyps blowing everywhere. They seem to love it since I also noticed better polyp extension

2. Purple Gigantea seems to be loving it as well...although I have a slight worry that it might want to move around a bit to adjust to the higher flow

3. Softies might not be loving it as much. The ricordias and zoas doesn't seem as happy. One of my chalices, that has almost covered the whole plug, the sides are kind of flipping inside out because of the high flow.

4. One side of my squamosa's mantle seems to be getting too much flow and I'm not sure if the clam is happy.

5. Two clowns snuggle in the carpet so they're ok. black tang usually hides behind the rocks but now that the strong flow is getting back there not sure how she will adjust.

I guess my question is if the softies/fish will be able to adjust to this strong flow? I think the sps, clams and carpet will be ok, but I'm worried that if the flow is too strong the ricordias will fall off their rock trying to reattach. I'm also worried that the tang will not find a dead spot to "rest".

What do you guys think? Too much flow? Good amount of flow? Need more flow? Thanks in advance!
 
Well id have to say, since I ran that k 4 in my 20 gallon hahaha. If u point it up. And have it ripple the water 1 it will add oxygen and. It might give ur softies a brake. I love the egeal eyes by the way there really nice. Did u figur out what the ones are I gave u ?
 
Actually that's what Im doing right now, pointing it up or as vertical as possible. There is still a lot of waterflow going on that hits the softies. I think if I move the two k4's around I might be able to position them so that they don't hit the softies as much. But if it's normal in the wild for these softies to get that much flow...then i'm ok with it.

Haven't figured it out yet man. They're at my parent's house in DB though. Looking good!
 
you should beable to find a good spot . Tom from so cal. Told me u could put then reflecting against the glass so its not so blunt. Most of my zoas loved the flow besides my smaller one they closed up.

Oo ya. After I meet up with u yesterday, I found a cube. I'm going to join the club
 
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