Too much flow in 40 breeder reef tank?

[Marco333]

Hi - I need some advice for setting up optimal flow in my 40 breeder tank. It has been up a few months and currently has two smallish ocellaris clowns, a few corals, and some inverts. As you can see in the pictures linked, the source of water movement in my tank is two Jebao PP-4 wavemakers and one protein skimmer. I do not have a sump/ref.

http://imgur.com/a/HIWNM

Right now I am worried I have too much flow. It seems my clowns are constantly swimming fast. I am worried they are getting worn out. I have one of the Jebao's on the left side of the tank more towards the front and other other on the right side of the tank more towards the back. The skimmer is in the middle of the tank. The Jebao manual was confusing and I was not sure which wave style to pick so I simply have them both on the H mode which is just constant flow. As you can see in the picture I have them about half way up the speed setting. I have no idea what I'm doing or if this is good.


So to summaries here are my questions (Sorry for rambling).

1. Is two Jebao PP-4s and a skimmer overkill for flow in a 40 breeder reef?

2. How do my settings look on the Jebaos? Should I use something other than H? If so, what do you recommend?

3. How does my Jebao placement look?

4. Should I be using night mode with the Jebaos? I currently keep the controllers in my stand which is always dark so I may need to move them somewhere else if they use sensors to determine night mode.

Thank you!

 

[Ron Reefman]

1. Is two Jebao PP-4s and a skimmer overkill for flow in a 40 breeder reef?
No.

2. How do my settings look on the Jebaos? Should I use something other than H? If so, what do you recommend?
Use a mode that you like. There isn't a best mode.

3. How does my Jebao placement look?
I've done it that way and even put them on timers so they would play back and forth like tidal flow. 4 hours of one 2 hours of both (or none if you want) and then 4 hours of the other. My current tank has them both on the back glass (painted black) and they are much less obvious in the tank. The flow is pointed toward the front glass and slightly toward the ends. Is this better? Who knows. Do what you think is best, as there is no right answer.

4. Should I be using night mode with the Jebaos? I currently keep the controllers in my stand which is always dark so I may need to move them somewhere else if they use sensors to determine night mode.
Some do, some don't. I don't. The ocean doesn't turn off at night. And fish tend to find lower flow spots in the rockscape at night anyway.

BTW, clown fish tend to swim like that all the time, it's very unlikely a flow issue that is causing it.

 

[Marco333]

Thank you for the helpful reply!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[notenoughtanks]

I have 2 of those plus ~300gph return pump on my 40 breeder and aside from my clown swimming as you describe all the other fish seem very happy.