Complete newbie with question about flow.

[Unodostrace]

So I have a 10g that has 10lbs of live rock and 10lbs of live sand. I just got my first coral (Duncan Frag) and it says low to medium flow for it.

I have the frag in the bottom of my 10g tank that’s currently running a aqua clear 50( about 150-200 GPH) and two Koralia nano’s (~240 GPH a piece). That’s about 650-700 GPH. Is that going to be too much flow/movement for corals like Duncan’s or Frogspawn/Torch?

I just don’t want to blow them away if they like low flow. I’m running just one Koralia and the AQ on low flow with the lights off to acclimate the Duncan.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I run my mixed reef a little high flow because of the SPS. I feel like my LPS are just about getting their limit at 40x turnover. My tank has almost 600 GPH dual returns with an IceCap 1k Gyre at 60%. My system is 35 gallons of water volume, but the display is about 28 gallons.

1,200 / 28 = 42x turnover per hour

EDIT: I have Duncans, Caulastrea, Alveopora and Acanthastrea for LPS in that flow.

 

[Ron Reefman]

You are turning over the water in your tank at somewhere between 60 and 80 times per hour. That is considered high flow overall. However, it the coral is placed somewhere in the tank where the HOB unit nor the powerheads are flowing directly at it, it should be OK.

Given that you are new here, let me be one of the first to say 'WELCOME' to R2R. Questions of all kinds are encouraged.

So how long has your tank been set up and running? I'll assume you know about cycling your tank? Are you planing on having fish as well?

 

[Unodostrace]

You are turning over the water in your tank at somewhere between 60 and 80 times per hour. That is considered high flow overall. However, it the coral is placed somewhere in the tank where the HOB unit nor the powerheads are flowing directly at it, it should be OK.

Given that you are new here, let me be one of the first to say 'WELCOME' to R2R. Questions of all kinds are encouraged.

So how long has your tank been set up and running? I'll assume you know about cycling your tank? Are you planing on having fish as well?

My tanks been up and cycled for about 3 months. I have somewhere between 0.0-0.03 on my phosphates so I do does a tiny bit(0.5ml) of phosphate-e from brightwell. Calcium hangs out around 420, magnesium showed about 1245 so I dosed a little with my last water change to get it around 1300. Salinity is right around 1.025. Alkalinity is right around 9. Nitrates are 5 or less.
What else did I miss?

I have a orbit marine LED that is my budget “get into the hobby light”. I plan on stocking my 10g with a tailspot blenny and possibly a firefish and some sexy shrimp. Coral wise I want to stock it with softies and LPS.

Any glaring newbie mistakes that I may have made?

Also, in regards to my original question: So should I just aim the power head on the right towards the outflow from the AQ to disrupt the laminar flow?

Should I even have the 2nd powerhead run at all?

I have a timer that I can set in half hour intervals. I was thinking of running the second power head for like 30 every 4-6 hours or so just to add some more chaotic flow.

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

If you see the tentacles are short and fat, then in my experience the flow is too high. When the flow is right, the tentacles will extend to at least 3/8". It is difficult to see this in a frag, but with my mature colony, this is how I can tell if the flow is too high or low.

FWIW.

 

[Dom]

In my experience, when we talk about flow, the number of times per hour your turn over the volume of water in your tank is important. But equally important is that the flow be 'chaotic'. By this I mean that your flow shouldn't be all in one direction. Point power heads at each other from opposite ends of the tank so that the flow they create collides with each other.

 

[Ron Reefman]

My tanks been up and cycled for about 3 months. I have somewhere between 0.0-0.03 on my phosphates so I do does a tiny bit(0.5ml) of phosphate-e from brightwell. Calcium hangs out around 420, magnesium showed about 1245 so I dosed a little with my last water change to get it around 1300. Salinity is right around 1.025. Alkalinity is right around 9. Nitrates are 5 or less.
What else did I miss?
Temperature... I'm sure it's fine, but you did ask what was missing. LOL!

I have a orbit marine LED that is my budget “get into the hobby light”. I plan on stocking my 10g with a tailspot blenny and possibly a firefish and some sexy shrimp. Coral wise I want to stock it with softies and LPS.
I'm not a big fan of Current Orbit leds, but over a very shallow tank and easy corals, you should be OK.

Any glaring newbie mistakes that I may have made?
Actually, it all sounds pretty good to me. Just give it time.

Also, in regards to my original question: So should I just aim the power head on the right towards the outflow from the AQ to disrupt the laminar flow?
It can't hurt given you have fairly high flow overall.

Should I even have the 2nd powerhead run at all?
I would rather have high flow... personally, I'd keep it (see below).

I have a timer that I can set in half hour intervals. I was thinking of running the second power head for like 30 every 4-6 hours or so just to add some more chaotic flow.
Chaotic flow works very well in an aquarium. I have a 40g cube full od zoas and rock flower anemones and when I feed I turn all the flow off. In 15 minutes everything that the fish and others haven't eaten is settled on the bottom and on the corals. When I turn the pumps back on it stirs everything up and the fish go after anything that moves. It is chaos!

Thanks for the welcome!

Enjoy the learning process. BTW, after 15 years in the hobby, I still lean new things all the time! If you haven't already, click on the quoted part of your post above this and all my answers will be visible.

 

[Unodostrace]

Enjoy the learning process. BTW, after 15 years in the hobby, I still lean new things all the time! If you haven't already, click on the quoted part of your post above this and all my answers will be visible.

Thanks for the thorough answer! And yes, temp is right around 79 :D.

Any input on a light upgrade for a newbie when that time comes?

 

[Captain Quint]

You're doing a terrific job and have gotten solid advice.

Welcome to R2R.

 

[Ron Reefman]

It depends a lot on what you want. With the shallow tank, you're fine with what you have. If you want to go sps corals, a bit stronger fixture is all you need. You could even just add an all blue led strip fixture behind the Orbit.

If you go to a deeper tank there are lots of options. Do you still want leds? Do you want more than 2 channels of color control (the corals really don't care if it 2 or 6). Do you still want sunrise/sunset (again, the corals don't care)? The closest thing to the control you have with the Orbit, and at a low price, for a deeper tank (16" or deeper) is probably a Reef Breeder Photon V2+. But there are quite a few other brands out there that all work very well.

If you don't need all those 'extra' controls, and they really do next to nothing for the corals, there are a lot of black box fixtures that work just as well as the expensive fixtures with all the controls that cost 5 to 8 times more!

 

[Dimmy007]

Welcome to R2R!!! One thing remember in this hobby nothing happens fast.

 

[Leadfooted]

Without derailing, it appears you have this near an open window receiving direct sunlight. If so, it's possible that could pose a problem down the road.

 

[Unodostrace]

Without derailing, it appears you have this near an open window receiving direct sunlight. If so, it's possible that could pose a problem down the road.

It only receives direct sunlight for about 45 minutes in the winter and maybe an hour and a half in the summer. It’s on the southwest side of the house bellied up to the dividing wall. It doesn’t get a ton of sun, just bad timing on the picture and I had it open for the cat to get some rays

 

[Unodostrace]

Welcome to R2R!!! One thing remember in this hobby nothing happens fast.

Seriously. I bought this Duncan yesterday and now I want to go back and get an acan or some zoas LOL.

 

[Unodostrace]

In my experience, when we talk about flow, the number of times per hour your turn over the volume of water in your tank is important. But equally important is that the flow be 'chaotic'. By this I mean that your flow shouldn't be all in one direction. Point power heads at each other from opposite ends of the tank so that the flow they create collides with each other.

I was planning on doing that with one powerhead and have the other one flow for like 15-30 minutes every 5 hours or so. I’ll have the HoB pointed in the middle-ish and then both powerheads in opposite corners flowing into the middle/front of the tank and directly at the flow of the HOB.

Kinda like this?: \.|./ (the lines being flow and the dots being the front of the tank).

 

[golfer88]

There’s lots of ways to run high flow and cut down the flow by rockscape and when corals grow that will redirect flow