SPS = High flow. What about sand?

[mattsilvester]

Hi All,

This is my first real venture in reefing, much less SPS. Always been a FOWLR guy, and BB has been my preferred tank so I can have plenty of flow and no nutrient sink. So sand has never really been much of a concern.

My new tank is a 150 gal. Currently BB. I'm considering adding sand. Specifically a DSB. I bought a bag or aragonite (0.1 to 1.5mm grain) which I had intended for a refugium. Now consdiering it for the display tank.

(1) new tank, new style - I like the look.
(2) some fish I want, wrasse / dart fishes / etc. like sand.
(3) nitrate control

My concern however is keeping it from blowing everywhere. I've got 2 Tunze 6101's and a controller. I can very the speed from 660 tot 3,170 gph on each pump. So I could achieve turnover of anything from x9 to x42 times per hour. Its currently at about x20 times.

So - the question for you SPS guy is, please: If your running an in tank DSB, what flow turnover rate do you have - or is it like :deadhorse:

FYI - the best I can manage by way of a remote DSB and refugium is a 24"x12"x18" tank (24x12 footprint).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scoey]

Flow is good for SPS, but you don't have to have a fire hose in your tank either, lol. I don't even know exactly what my turnover rate is. I'm guessing about 15-25X. As long as there's no dead spots, you should be good. I had the same question a while back, so I made two frags of the same coral. I put one frag directly in front of my strongest powerhead, and one in the lowest flow area of the tank. Both spots are about the same height, so they have about the same amount of light. They both grew at the same rate.

I used to run BB simply because I didn't want sand blowing around with all my flow, but after the experiment, I figured I could just reduce the flow, and the corals would be fine. I added sand about 6 months ago, and I love it. I didn't even need to change the flow, the sand just eventually settled, and that was that. Nitrates have not increased, and everything looks better than ever.

 

[Leena2674]

The biggest problem I have with my sand is that my Maroon Clowns love blowing it everywhere. I just keep everything dusted off as best I can. Once the sand settled and I got the flow arranged the way I wanted, I have no problems elsewhere in my tank... just where my Clowns host.