Too much flow for SPS??

[christiantt]

Hi.
I'm starting to worry if my SPS gets too much flow.
I know that they don't like to be blasted of the rocks with the pumps pointed straight at them. But can there bee too much flow anyways??

My tank is 468 liters. 130 cm x 60 x 60 cm.
I have 2 Vortech MP40s with ES pump heads and QD drivers.

I've attached my daily program and how the tank looked half a year ago.
I sold a lot of frags from the acropora to the right, but the rest of the coral has just died. Starting getting white and then lost the polyps. Could it be because of the flow??

 

[DivingTheWorld]

That doesn't look like too much flow IMO. SPS like a lot of flow, as long as it's indirect. I run two MP-40s on my 80g at 85% Reef Crest Anti-Synch 24/7 and they love it. I did have to move them around a bit in the tank to find the best location to provide whole tank indirect flow. My original mounting position caused more direct flow and I did kill a couple sps as a result.

 

[jda]

Yes, you can have too much flow. I have no idea if your tank does. Turn them down a bit and see if anything changes. You might have to wait a month to find out. I would doubt that the death is because of the flow, so perhaps look for other reasons in parallel.

I mostly think that flow in a tank is a statement about manhood more than actual needs for the coral. Yes, you need a good amount of flow but people can overdo it.

 

[christiantt]

I think it was because of light change.
Went from a Pacific Sun Black Python to Radion G4 Pro on acclimation program for 4 weeks towards 100% intensity - maybe that was too much
So I've decreased it to 60%

 

[zsuman101]

i use gobs of flow, i think flow is king with sps right up there with the right lighting. ime i jam my corals and if i have growth and polyp extension then great . i go by polyp extension the corals will let you know by closing up if its too much, although i have high flow it is very random and there are rest periods all be it not long ones . my other test is if my fish are pinned to the glass i turn stuff down a hair. good luck... zsu

 

[christiantt]

One of the acroporas is right in front of a pump. In the night the polyps are fully extended, but in the day none of them are out. Then I must assume it is the light??

It's changed now, so I'll keep an eye on it for the next couple of weeks

 

[jda]

Not really. Polyps retract during the day. It is normal.