Talking in laymen terms

[Esquire]

The following may seems trivial or mundane, however I a few a questions that I am hoping some one can help me understand.

Often time when you read post from members, checking magazines, books or catalogs for information on requirements for a reef tank, you often find phrases such as:

"High water flow"; "Intense lighting"; "5 watts per gallon"

What exactly are these terms, for us none experts? What is "high flow " in a 210gal tank? At what spectrum level, is 5 watts per gallon considered intense? These are some of the question that I hope someone can help me understand?

Please feel free to post any other questions that you may not understand to this thread.

As a point of reference here is my setup:
210g MegaFlow AGA (72"Lx29"Hx24"D) with 3-5" DSB
90g Refugium
150lb LR

Water Movement:
Sequence Hammerhead as return from sump (the sump is directly under the tank) connected to a SCWD and two MegaFlow returns
Refugium feeds the main unit using an Iwaki 30 pump connected to a 1/2" SeaSwirl
1 - Wave2k Corner unit
1 - SEIO Model 1500
1 - SEIO Model 820

I'm would like to keep any coral and clam combination!

Lighting:
2 - 10,000k 250W HQI MH
1 - 20,000k 175W Mogul Base MH
4 - 160W Actinic "03" URI VHO
3 - 160W Actinic White (12,000K) URI VHO
2 - 40W Marine-Glow SO

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Personally, I believe flow is a relative term. More impotantly, chaotic, random, direct, indirect, etc, etc are more important than high and low. Don't get me wrong. An explanation like low, direct flow or high, chaotic flow really helps. Though that doesn't necessarily answer your question. I'm sure you are wanting something a little more concrete than that as an answer, but truthfully, there isn't much of a concrete answer. High would be something really forceful and low would just meander about. No numeric value is really of use. I had almost 1100gph flowing through my tank and there were still low flow spots that I could place things like Bubble Corals.

Lighting is a little easier. Watts per gallon is a horrible rule of thumb IMO. It should be completely thrown out. All lights have different intensities and ability to penetrate water. PCs usually cop out to almost nothing at about 20". If you are looking to light something really well that is about 30" down then you would need something like a high wattage metal halide. A 400w MH would shine about 30" down at about the intensity of a 400w PC about 12" down. Relatively speaking, of course. Also Kelvin Rating also plays an impact on the intensity of a light. A 20,000K MH usually has a lower PAR rating than a 10,000K MH of the same wattage.

Listing your equipment below, you should be able to keep anything that you want. You may want to actually increase the lighting depending on how deep the tank it and if you would like a tank full of SPS. Your current lighting scheme is fine for just about everything. Your main concern right now shouldn't truly be your equipment, but your husbandy and responsible reefkeeping. You know, making sure your nitrates are low to zero (depending on tank inhabitants), your alkalinity and calcium are balanced, proper specific gravity, water changes, etc. If you can keep up on that and keeping the equipment in shape and running, there isn't really anything that you couldn't do. Just make sure you research it before you buy it.

Good Luck :thumbsup:

 

[Esquire]

Thanks. You have some what enlightened me on what I need to know. My system has been running for a good six months since it lasted crashed. Now, I am at the point where I want to add more livestock (mostly corals, clams, and such; no fish). Every time I go to look at new species, all I read is "intense light", "low light", "high flow", or "moderate flow." It is crazy to spend $50+ for an item and to see it die three weeks later because of too much light or too much flow....

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6848816#post6848816 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Esquire
Thanks. You have some what enlightened me on what I need to know. My system has been running for a good six months since it lasted crashed. Now, I am at the point where I want to add more livestock (mostly corals, clams, and such; no fish). Every time I go to look at new species, all I read is "intense light", "low light", "high flow", or "moderate flow." It is crazy to spend $50+ for an item and to see it die three weeks later because of too much light or too much flow....

I completely understand, believe me. I've lost three frags of pink Ricordea yuma. I think the best thing for an aquarist to look for is the "Intesnse Lighting" and "High Water Flow" as a guide, and then watch for stress signals from the animal and then re-place it in a more appropriate spot. But this can be misleading if you move it too often because it becomes aggitated from moving and stressed from adapting to the new lighting/flow.