how much flow is 2 much 120G?

[michaellee]

I have a 120 reef ready system , and the flow was incredibly low. I was pushing 1400GPH with the magdrive I believe that was pushing 2 overflows. The powerheads I had were old, and they would often fall of of the back of the tank. I saw 2 nice Aqueon propeller type flow pumps, 1200 series and put them in the tank. Awesome water movement , but I am afraid it may be too much. My reef fish don't seem to mind, however I am not sure if corals need that fast movement or if it needs to be toned down. Seems like some of the corals love it and some don't, but I just started it. I had major dead spots that now have good flow. Is it too much or do I want that flow? All the brown debris that would accumulate on the bottom in the dead areas immediately have been cycled through the system. is adding this amount of flow a good choice for my reef?

 

[little_fish]

if the sand isnt flying, then you dont have too much flow. Give the corals a few days to adjust to the new flow, and if they dont like it, im sure you still have calmer areas you can move them to.

 

[marcah]

depending on the corals in the tank,, Softies require a slower flow rate 20 times per hour will be fine.. LPS corals need between 20 to 40 times per hour of movement and SPS corals need up to 80 times per hour of movement.. So if you have mainly LPS in the tank and your tank is 120 gal you would want between 2400 and 4800gph of movement in it...
Hope that helps :D
Marc

 

[little_fish]

I really dont think that softies do well in flow that low. The palys, zoas and xenias do fine in the that low flow, but my leathers, gsp, and encrusting gorg all do much much better when they are in high flow regions.

I personally like my tank with a high flow. Less crap settles out for algae to feed off of, i get better gas exchange, and everything in general looks much better.

I had a lower flow seahorse tank with a few corals and once the seahorses were gone and i uped the flow quite a bit, everything (LPS and softies, no SPS at that point) really took off and looked much better.

 

[marcah]

I agree with you , I personally like a higher flow and find a little slower rate in the tank for the corals that require a little slower movement... I decided to go with about 7500gph in my 150, just in case I wanted some sps. Then just looked for slower spots for the mushrooms and other softies I had..
Wanted to just give a general rule of thumb ..

 

[michaellee]

Thank you all. Yeah I have a pretty diverse tank so I can see my polyps are lovin' it, but my frogspawn is closing up. I think that I will move them to a calmer spot soon, or one of the cubes I have going. Yeah you are right big time, no more gunk hanging out. I tried to throttle the power down with a dimmer and that just messed the powerhead up for a second. So I think it's just like you said, finding the right place. I wonder if that will help with bacteria doing the job because there are less dead spots. Food accumulation had to be happening. My flameback angel turned white (really) it was so frightened or shocked, but all the color ia back. Think it's a good choice - keep that water moving - eliminate dead spots. I envy those who plummed their tank underneath to get water moving, but I'm not that advanced

 

[Sir Alex]

What about sicce power heads? Anyone had any experience with them?

 

[AmberSunrise]

I found that my corals that were supposed to love high flow wouldnt even open up until I pointed it off of them. The good thing about blowers is you can move them around if you see a coral is irritated by the flow.
You definitely do not want dead spots anywhere though that might accumulate food or poo. A good sandsifting goby will help also, I love mine he keeps my sand white and clean.

 

[little_fish]

Ya, not even the SPS like the powerheads pointed at them, so you have to figure out how to make the water turbulent but not direct. A good way to do this is to bounce the flow off of the rocks or glass.