Hi all,
I have had my new tank for 4 months and with thing stablizing, I'm starting to add SPS. I used to have a LPS nano, so flow is something I'm trying to learn now. The tank is 5'x2'x2' peninsula with low-medium stocking.
Here's how it looks for now:
The red lines are the return pumps. The shop that helped me build the tank also helped me decide to have the two return outlets in the middle of my tank. I hid them inside my 2 islands of rock scape with an opening for it to spray towards the glass and give very good surface agitation.
The blue lines are 2 hidden Jebao SW8's off to the back side of the tank at medium height. I run them at 100% On/Off mode creating a wave.
The green line is my Gyre XF350. I placed it 1/3 from the water line and it points horizontally running at reverse mode. 10% forward 2sec + 100% back 10sec.
Here's an image of the placements:
The brown poop-like objects are the rocks. Both return outlets are pointed 45 degrees up and spraying on the glass.
Before I added the SPS & gyre, the tank was doing well with the LPS. Since I wanted SPSs, I've moved things around.
So here are my questions:
1) My plan is to have LPS moved to the middle where the channel is and around the edge of the right island with the least flow. This leaves the left rock scape for the SPSs. Since most of my flows will be from the left side where the SW8s & Gyre are, I thought that this would balance it out a bit. Sounds like a good high level plan?
2) I had been experimenting with my gyre and have no idea how to make it less turbulent. It's been running at the lowest setting and the acros I put in the middle of the left rocks doesn't have good polyp extension. Simply running the gyre at 30% sine wave seems to be too turbulent. I was wondering if there's a better location to mount the gyre (maybe closer to the water line blowing towards the surface, or lower in between the 2 SW8s? And any recommended settings? What should I look at to determine if the flow power is correct?
3) The green apple acro on the right side, however, is doing well with good extension during the bright hours. They retract after dark which is weird coz I thought they feed after lights out (when I do my feeding). I'm thinking of moving it to the left side near the middle where it would get more flow and light. Good idea?
4) I added a strawberry colony at the very top of the left rocks where the seriatopia is now. It used to have long and thin polyps extending well the first couple days. I'm not sure if I had blown it too much that they fell off or it's just not the right flow pattern. It's only been in the tank for a couple weeks. How long should I observe it before the colony adjust to their location? Should I move it around every 2 days if I'm not seeing it having good polyp extension?
Any other pointers and suggestions is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Chris
I have had my new tank for 4 months and with thing stablizing, I'm starting to add SPS. I used to have a LPS nano, so flow is something I'm trying to learn now. The tank is 5'x2'x2' peninsula with low-medium stocking.
Here's how it looks for now:
The red lines are the return pumps. The shop that helped me build the tank also helped me decide to have the two return outlets in the middle of my tank. I hid them inside my 2 islands of rock scape with an opening for it to spray towards the glass and give very good surface agitation.
The blue lines are 2 hidden Jebao SW8's off to the back side of the tank at medium height. I run them at 100% On/Off mode creating a wave.
The green line is my Gyre XF350. I placed it 1/3 from the water line and it points horizontally running at reverse mode. 10% forward 2sec + 100% back 10sec.
Here's an image of the placements:
Before I added the SPS & gyre, the tank was doing well with the LPS. Since I wanted SPSs, I've moved things around.
So here are my questions:
1) My plan is to have LPS moved to the middle where the channel is and around the edge of the right island with the least flow. This leaves the left rock scape for the SPSs. Since most of my flows will be from the left side where the SW8s & Gyre are, I thought that this would balance it out a bit. Sounds like a good high level plan?
2) I had been experimenting with my gyre and have no idea how to make it less turbulent. It's been running at the lowest setting and the acros I put in the middle of the left rocks doesn't have good polyp extension. Simply running the gyre at 30% sine wave seems to be too turbulent. I was wondering if there's a better location to mount the gyre (maybe closer to the water line blowing towards the surface, or lower in between the 2 SW8s? And any recommended settings? What should I look at to determine if the flow power is correct?
3) The green apple acro on the right side, however, is doing well with good extension during the bright hours. They retract after dark which is weird coz I thought they feed after lights out (when I do my feeding). I'm thinking of moving it to the left side near the middle where it would get more flow and light. Good idea?
4) I added a strawberry colony at the very top of the left rocks where the seriatopia is now. It used to have long and thin polyps extending well the first couple days. I'm not sure if I had blown it too much that they fell off or it's just not the right flow pattern. It's only been in the tank for a couple weeks. How long should I observe it before the colony adjust to their location? Should I move it around every 2 days if I'm not seeing it having good polyp extension?
Any other pointers and suggestions is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Chris
