Flow Question

[KMiller]

I have 2 Koralia 3's in my 46 bowfront and I was wondering, do you all that that's too much flow? I was gone for the weekend and just came home today to see that hubby turned off the 3's and put in a Koralia 2 and everything seems much more open and happy today... so that's why I ask! Should I get a couple smaller ones and not use the 3's?

[reefnjunkie]

I would not have said that was tomuch at all-you may try what he changed it to, and then switch it back see if things go back to being less open.

My 75 gallon is 4 feet long and I have an MP20 on each side pointing at each other-they are on reef crest mode which has them pushing between 350-1400 GPH each on the % I have them (about 70% of max), and my corals are VERY happy

On full power (100% since you can adjust them) they push 2000 GPH each, plus my return ios pushing about 1200 GPH-

 

So in comparison-you are not pushing to much water-

[ReeFit]

It all depends on what your growing in there. I have my mixed tank setup so there is a slow area and a really fast area that way the mushrooms can come out and photo.

[ReeFit]

i guess i should example my setup:

55 gallon tank, mostly soft corals, leathers, mixed LPS, minimal SPS

1200 circulation

2200 koralia

800 auqueon

250 auqueon

[KMiller]

I have a pretty similar set up coral wise. With the 3's i have 2800gph flow all together.

[newfisher]

I wish there was the perfect reciepe for a specific tank,but there isn't. Experimenting with different powerheads is a great idea. Watch the change over a couple days,especially when you feed so you can watch the flow patterns and make adjustments as needed.

[ReeFit]

I wish there was the perfect reciepe for a specific tank' date='but there isn't. Experimenting with different powerheads is a great idea. Watch the change over a couple days,especially when you feed so you can watch the flow patterns and make adjustments as needed.[/quote']

 

Just to add to this comment, change is not always bad, corals will often close up for days at a time with flow changes but with time will adjust and come back out. It will need to be minor adjustment and then wait. Making to many adjustments to soon can just be a waste of time.

[impur]

I have about 4500gph in my 75gal. You've got a long ways to go!! (laugh)

[andy]

IME, the smaller the tank (particularly the shorter the tank top-to-bottom), the tougher it is to get decent flow -- especially for a mixed reef. There's just not enough room in there to get the strong random flow SPS want without simultaneous blasting LPS to oblivion.

 

I'm facing the same issue in my 55gal. Too many or too powerful Koralias peel my acans and frogspawn, too few and I get unhappy SPS :-( I think the best solution is a controllable pump like a Vortech or Tunze... their surge/reefcreft modes do the trick without blasting. I used to have 3x Tunze 6055s with a Neptune AquaSurf in my tank, and they were GREAT... regret selling them every single day.