Water flow question in a 200g

[what'scoral]

I had a couple of questions on water flow in my 200g (72x24x26) light sps reef. return pump kicks about 3600gph back into the tank over the middle.

2 weeks ago I turned off my 2 vortech 40's for a tunze wavebox. the wavebox is nice and everything but I dont know if thats enough flow in the tank. I keep the wavebox on because I love the wave motion it creats unlike the vortechs. Is the single wave box enough flow in the tank or should I go back to my 2 vortechs???

2nd question is at night when the lights go off the wave box has a photocell that shuts the unit off until the light come back on in the afternoon. Is it ok to turn off all pumps in the tank exept the return at night???

I have noticed since the wave box some red algea on the rocks and green crap on my sand. But I dont know if thats a phospate issue or not.

 

[dots]

Is it enough flow? See if the reef thrives or declines, that will be your answer. Personally, I prefer multiple random sources and different points than a single. It creates the opportunity for more random flow. Depending on the dwell rate of the wave box this is debateable.

I prefer the Vortechs as the added back up benifit should your main pump go down. The battery back ups can save your bacon.

Oxygen is "folded" into the water through its motion. The motion of the water allows nutrients and waste to be taken to a fro the corals. As water is heated, its dissolved oxygen content is reduced. Tanks crash primarily during a power outage due to the fish suffocating, which pollute the rest of the tank.

I would not rely on the return pump as the sole method of circulation as its ineffecient and literally puting all your eggs in one basket should it go out. Most rely on a seperate closed loop for just this task, and funnel only as needed into the sump for conditioning.

This would give you 18X flow in the display, which is a bit low for an SPS tank, though sustainable. I would imagine you may not have the best overall success with a risk of crashing increased with out the secondary Vortechs and a backup battery.

I would not suggest shutting down the tank, expect to feed or maintenance and to keep the Vortechs on in addiiton to the box.

Of course, much of this is opinion and I have tried my best to explain why....I hope you find these reason important to you as well.

 

[what'scoral]

Ya I though about this more after I posted and hooked up both vortechs with the wave box and I still have my wave.

So now im running both vortechs on random sequence on opposite sides and the wavebox. At night im having the vortechs turn in to night mode and the wavebox box to turn off completly
I dont have the backup battery for the vortechs but the generator is ready to go.