more flow or more light?

mcliffy2

New member
My SPS are ok...growing, and halfway colored (like some are green on top, brown underneath which makes me think flow). My params are good. Here is my current setup in my 118 gal half circle:

Lighting: 1x400w 14k SPS (southern pacific sun) MH, 4x36w T5 - various brands, 3 actinic, 1 10k

Flow: Mag 9.5 return, 2xTunze 6045s (no mod), 1 Seio 820 hidden under the rocks

I have played around and given my hood and eurobracing, I'm not sure how I can fit more lighting (have the one 400w MH in the middle and 4x36 T5s behind it). Need the MH to penetrate 30" but can't figure out how I'd fit 2 without blocking my canopy access or having them over my glass eurobracing. So I'm hoping its flow. I was thinking of adding a couple Tunze 6025s and modding them as a cheap solution to get things moving around, or biting the bullet for a 6100 (altho would prefer not to due to size, power consumption, etc.).

Here's a schematic of the tank so you can see what I'm dealing with:

aquarium1-small.jpg
 
Flow it is. So I was thinking of modding the 6045s but that only ups them a little...and I'm thinking what I really need is more SOURCES of a flow. So would 2 6025s (modded) be enough? Would bring my total to close to 5000 gph in 118g tank...
 
That would be a great upgrade. For reference, I have around 7500 gph in my 75 mixed reef, so you can see it is hard to get enough.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10418920#post10418920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
That would be a great upgrade. For reference, I have around 7500 gph in my 75 mixed reef, so you can see it is hard to get enough.

wow, that is a TON...so if I mod the 6045s and get two 6025s and mod them, I'd have

6045s: 2x1300 gph = 2600gph
6025s: 2x1000 gph = 2000 gph
Seio: 800 gph
Return: 600 gph

Total: 6000 gph

Obviously less but would this be enough?
 
Yeah, that would definitely be even better. Just play around with positioning, etc. and that should help a lot.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10418920#post10418920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
That would be a great upgrade. For reference, I have around 7500 gph in my 75 mixed reef, so you can see it is hard to get enough.
I see that you have a mixed reef. How do you keep your other corals besides sps happy with that much flow?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10419048#post10419048 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
Yeah, that would definitely be even better. Just play around with positioning, etc. and that should help a lot.

The half circle with the way the eurobracing is means I pretty much have to have all my powerheads on the back wall - so I'm thinking I'll put the 6045s on the far sides, mid tank, slightly pointing up, and have the 6025 middle back, top of tank pointing down. Sound like a good plan?
 
i have 3 times that much flow in my 50 G and i have a sandbed still.

another option is a vortech on the back wall.

or you could mod up two 6025s they are nice once modded
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10419452#post10419452 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Caleb Kruse
I see that you have a mixed reef. How do you keep your other corals besides sps happy with that much flow?

Well, I can cheat a bit because many of my sps are grown out (thus shielding many of the lps). That is just about the only way I'd be able to get as much as I do (with sand too). I also really took the time to very, very carefully position the powerheads.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10420946#post10420946 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Purple Haze
Mount your nanostreams to the eurobracing! That is, if your water level is high enough.

I thought about that, but like you suggested...water isn't high enough...maybe I could get a magnet to put between the Tunze magnet and the stream to space it downward...
 
maxi mods and the koralins are also pretty high up there with satisfaction but really, how can you beat a tunze?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10421547#post10421547 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by agent6473
I'd say you need at least 2 6100s.


"Need"? :) seriously tho, I do have some LPS that need low flow...what I'm thinking is that most of my SPS are in the middle portion of the tank (since I just have the 1 400 watter), so if I direct the 4 nanostreams and the return to all crash together in the middle I should have some pretty chaotic flow where I need it - will this work? i've seen the 6100s in action and I just think with mounting them on the back of the tank, the flow would blow the polyps off of even my sps...
 
I would add more flow and more ligh because you only have 3.38 watts per gallon and I have herd the 8 watts is what sps disier.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10423844#post10423844 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MikD_reefer
I would add more flow and more ligh because you only have 3.38 watts per gallon and I have herd the 8 watts is what sps disier.

it isn't the amount of watts per gallon but more importantly how much light can penatrate through the water to the sand bed. more wattage = more penatration. watts per gallon isn't a very good rule of thumb.

100watts of PC lighting is no where close to 70watts MH because the MH can penatrate through the water better than the PC lighting and produce more light.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10423863#post10423863 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by this1fish
it isn't the amount of watts per gallon but more importantly how much light can penatrate through the water to the sand bed. more wattage = more penatration. watts per gallon isn't a very good rule of thumb.

100watts of PC lighting is no where close to 70watts MH because the MH can penatrate through the water better than the PC lighting and produce more light.

Hey thanks. Im new to the hobby so I didnet realy know much. Do I would e set to have sps in my tank wit 2x 175w mh over a 46 gallon.
 
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