is this low,medium or high flow???

[agreeive?fish]

45g tall with 500gph return pump, and 4 powerheads of 1200gph each (3 on wave maker and one on constant) tank is aprox 1/2 full of "dead rock" so lots of little caves for little reef fish once tank is ready

 

[jayball]

45g tall with 500gph return pump, and 4 powerheads of 1200gph each (3 on wave maker and one on constant) tank is aprox 1/2 full of "dead rock" so lots of little caves for little reef fish once tank is ready

Generically it would fall into "high flow". Realistically if you want to see what kind of flow you have you can dump in a good bit of food and watch how fast it zooms around the tank. There will be spots that are slow and some that are fast, the same with the flow being turbulent or linear.

 

[GimpyFin]

I'd say it's fairly high. 3-5x the tank volume/hr. on the return is perfectly fine and I don't think you'd really need more than two of those power heads on a 45g tank.

 

[Potatohead]

You have over 100x tank turnover which is tons. Most guys keeping LPS you only need around 20, with SPS maybe 50, although more doesn't hurt. With 100 it's going to be hard to keep sand in the tank unless you have large grains

 

[agreeive?fish]

well its been running all day...only one spot about 2" x 2" is there been a loss of sand..i do have a mixture of sand in some spots and crushed coral in others (both just enough to cover the glass bottom)..ill throw some river rock in the small spot where the sand is blown. two of the power heads are aimed at the back/bottom of the "rock wall" you cant even see the powerheads...two are aimed at the top of the "rock wall" at a downward angle...threw in some flake food to see what it does..stayed suspended in the water colum for a very good amount of time..and gradually sinks to the bottom and/or into the overflow(which if filtered by filter-floss at the sump entrance and is/will be changed on a very regular basis )...hopefully the way the flow is broken up by the "rock wall" it wont be too much flow for small reef fish inverts and weedy/softies

 

[agreeive?fish]

pic of the beginnings of a weedy reef..the rock was dead dry rock..the mollies are slowing being converted to full marine(brackish at the moment shutting down the brackish tank as the mollies are all thats in the 20g brackish)

 

[ricks49reef]

I think you will need to lose or dial back some of the pumps if you are going to keep certain corals.My 40 nuvo only has a 476 gph circulation pump and I only have two 240 hydras alternating on a wave maker.I have trouble finding an area that my bubble coral is happy.

 

[Potatohead]

I have a 36 bowfront with 200 gph return and two Tunze 6045's. I had the Tunzes wide open during cycling but always got bare spots, I turned them down to about 40% closed and it still took a long time (hours) to get them where they won't get bare spots. I figure as-is they are about 900 gph which puts me at 55x turnover. I do have a lot of LPS and zoas but they're all at the bottom and I would say really on the edge of too much flow, but they are all seeming pretty happy. It did take a lot of tinkering though and with 100x it's going to be really difficult unless you have SPS only and don't mind some bare spots.

 

[Ron Reefman]

You have over 100x tank turnover which is tons. Most guys keeping LPS you only need around 20, with SPS maybe 50, although more doesn't hurt. With 100 it's going to be hard to keep sand in the tank unless you have large grains

+1
100+ turns per hour is more than a lot, it's extreme. Unless the wavemakers are up and down enough to say they are only 1200gph at max but are 0 at minimum and therefore have an average of 500gph. Then your flow rate is just 'high'.

 

[Waters40]

You have the first hurricane simulated reef Like other said, that much movement is not needed.

 

[CStrickland]

Hmm. I was under the impression that high flow was approaching 100 like you see in barebottom sps tanks, medium was like 40-75, and low flow was less that 40x DT volume. I think if I went below 40 I'd have a lot of cyano and stuff settling in the tank rather than reaching my sump for filtration. But I have my powerheads tucked behind the rocks and pointed at each other too, that makes a huge difference compared to something like a gyre pushing open water. If I moved my powerheads out from behind the rocks I think it would blow my fish out of the water and damage my lps.

 

[Potatohead]

Hmm. I was under the impression that high flow was approaching 100 like you see in barebottom sps tanks, medium was like 40-75, and low flow was less that 40x DT volume. I think if I went below 40 I'd have a lot of cyano and stuff settling in the tank rather than reaching my sump for filtration. But I have my powerheads tucked behind the rocks and pointed at each other too, that makes a huge difference compared to something like a gyre pushing open water. If I moved my powerheads out from behind the rocks I think it would blow my fish out of the water and damage my lps.

Having them bounce off the glass and rocks is the best thing to do, it creates the most turbulence... If you can make it work, that's great. Pointing them at each other helps a lot too.