TL;DR: I've had this trachy for about 2 months now and overall it seems to be doing fine. Except for one issue - about 75% of the time over the past few weeks the front looks like it is smooshed back into the center of the coral. I'm wondering if this is related to the flow in my tank and, if so, what I can do about it.
Full Story: I have a JBJ 65g AIO using the stock return pumps which, I believe, run at around 400 ghp each. I also have two IceCap Gyre 2k's to add cross flow. When I set up the tank the flow from the returns was so powerful against the front glass it blasted all the sand away from the front area of the tank. Changed out stock return nozzles for random flow nozzles and the sand issue disappeared.
Fast forward, got this trachy about 2 months ago. Over the past few weeks it's been looking like this late in the day and first thing in the morning:
As you can see, the front of it looks like it is smooshed back against the center of the coral. Notice the torch nearby as well - it is clearly getting more flow from the front than the back. Random flow nozzles on the returns did seem to help a bit but I can't seem to get this to stop. I'm a bit limited for sand space given my aquascape but I have moved the trachy around in the central lagoon with no substantive change. Here is what my scape looks like:
I've also tried moving the nozzles to point as far toward the corners of the tank as possible, as you can see in the image above, but that doesn't seem to matter either. For what it's worth, the trumpet/candy cane on the left of the tank also has a bit of a "blasted/smooshed" look to it. Those polyps definitely do not puff up like they used to.
On some days, the trachy puffs up enough that you don't really notice the smooshing in the front nearly as much. But this isn't every day.
Is this bad? What can/should I do to remedy this?
Is this a flow issue or is there something else going on with this coral I should be addressing?
Thanks! I always appreciate the great advice I get on R2R!
Full Story: I have a JBJ 65g AIO using the stock return pumps which, I believe, run at around 400 ghp each. I also have two IceCap Gyre 2k's to add cross flow. When I set up the tank the flow from the returns was so powerful against the front glass it blasted all the sand away from the front area of the tank. Changed out stock return nozzles for random flow nozzles and the sand issue disappeared.
Fast forward, got this trachy about 2 months ago. Over the past few weeks it's been looking like this late in the day and first thing in the morning:
As you can see, the front of it looks like it is smooshed back against the center of the coral. Notice the torch nearby as well - it is clearly getting more flow from the front than the back. Random flow nozzles on the returns did seem to help a bit but I can't seem to get this to stop. I'm a bit limited for sand space given my aquascape but I have moved the trachy around in the central lagoon with no substantive change. Here is what my scape looks like:
I've also tried moving the nozzles to point as far toward the corners of the tank as possible, as you can see in the image above, but that doesn't seem to matter either. For what it's worth, the trumpet/candy cane on the left of the tank also has a bit of a "blasted/smooshed" look to it. Those polyps definitely do not puff up like they used to.
On some days, the trachy puffs up enough that you don't really notice the smooshing in the front nearly as much. But this isn't every day.
Is this bad? What can/should I do to remedy this?
Is this a flow issue or is there something else going on with this coral I should be addressing?
Thanks! I always appreciate the great advice I get on R2R!