Doubledown
Active member
I was out to several LFS in my area over the past couple weeks and observed a couple of them with extremely healthy/growing corals in their main display. 2 specifically stood out, and both of these were surge tanks. I had to ask the owner about the set-up and he utilizes a 60 gallon surge in a 500 gallon tank. The surge lasts 18 seconds and takes roughly 10 minutes to re-fill. He uses a minimal return pump to get water down to the sump (skimmer, reactors, etc..) that runs constantly and is the only source of flow/circulation between surges. Basically the corals get a rush of water for 20 seconds and rest for 10 minutes. Polyp extension is excellent, coral growth is excellent.
I wanted to copy that - mostly. I do not have the space for a surge tank above my current tank so a true surge was not possible.
I contacted Roger @ Tunze to see how to set my 2x6100s to simulate a surge and unfortunately, a true surge is not possible. What I can do is have both streams come on for 30 seconds at whatever power I desire (the rush of the surge) and then go off for 90 seconds (the rest period). I can change this to 1 minute on/3 minutes off or any multiple thereof.
Here's the question - do you think this surge/rest time will be sufficient to simulate a true surge setting? Will 90 seconds be enough for the corals to rest - should this be longer? Am I better off for the corals leaving the streams on Interval 2 with a pulse (I currently notice that my corals have good polyp extension on the sides facing away from the streams currently, but none on the sides facing them).
Thank you
I wanted to copy that - mostly. I do not have the space for a surge tank above my current tank so a true surge was not possible.
I contacted Roger @ Tunze to see how to set my 2x6100s to simulate a surge and unfortunately, a true surge is not possible. What I can do is have both streams come on for 30 seconds at whatever power I desire (the rush of the surge) and then go off for 90 seconds (the rest period). I can change this to 1 minute on/3 minutes off or any multiple thereof.
Here's the question - do you think this surge/rest time will be sufficient to simulate a true surge setting? Will 90 seconds be enough for the corals to rest - should this be longer? Am I better off for the corals leaving the streams on Interval 2 with a pulse (I currently notice that my corals have good polyp extension on the sides facing away from the streams currently, but none on the sides facing them).
Thank you
