Flow for SPS - what's just enough?

Nimitz87

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A few caves towards the back of the tank basically. I'll try to find a good photo. I'm debating between 2 mp40s, 2 maxpects, or 2 apex compatible jebaos. I did spend a ton of money upgrading so I may just get the jebaos for now but we'll see.

some pics will definitely help, rock work is a huge deal when it comes to flow and many people can improve by some aquascaping changes.

I'd personally go with the maxspects, coralvue took care of me after my warranty was up and they didn't catch it, ended up with a whole new pump and controller they went above and beyond to fix my issue.

two of those set at 5-10 sec pulse offsetting will be awesome. 3-4" from the water surface. adjust cages accordingly.
 

Norcalreef

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I have a 44x22x16 I have a 1 mp40, 2 mp10 and a cor15 run at 70%. If I could do it again I would swap 1 of the mp10 for another mp40
 
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wdavid

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some pics will definitely help, rock work is a huge deal when it comes to flow and many people can improve by some aquascaping changes.

I'd personally go with the maxspects, coralvue took care of me after my warranty was up and they didn't catch it, ended up with a whole new pump and controller they went above and beyond to fix my issue.

two of those set at 5-10 sec pulse offsetting will be awesome. 3-4" from the water surface. adjust cages accordingly.
Yeah I just don't want to disassemble and reassemble pieces to clean them. I really like how I can just throw in the wetside in some vinegar water and forget about it for a bit then clean. Same with jebao, seems like less to clean.

Otherwise the wide coverage seems pretty attractive
 

Michael Llabona

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So I have an mp10 on my biocube with a spin stream on the return and I love it. Quick easy set up and forget. I have 2 WAV at 30-40% on my 90 and liked them once I got them set for my needs. It took a long time for me to set up and get the right balance for my mixed reef. They are very strong and minor tweaks will throw off what you want. I did like the fact that it didn't take up any outlets on my Apex though. The WAV are is point of sale to clean BTW. I personally would buy the mp60s if I did it again and buy spare wet sides to swap out every month or so to make things super easy.
 

Michael Llabona

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I've heard good things about the gyres but the biggest complaint is cleaning them.
 
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wdavid

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So I have an mp10 on my biocube with a spin stream on the return and I love it. Quick easy set up and forget. I have 2 WAV at 30-40% on my 90 and liked them once I got them set for my needs. It took a long time for me to set up and get the right balance for my mixed reef. They are very strong and minor tweaks will throw off what you want. I did like the fact that it didn't take up any outlets on my Apex though. The WAV are is point of sale to clean BTW. I personally would buy the mp60s if I did it again and buy spare wet sides to swap out every month or so to make things super easy.
Yeah the price is the only thing that's making me consider other brands, but it does seem like for the most part I get what I pay for and I can roll the dice on cheap things or pay up
 

Bmasculine

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Here is something I’ve learned the hard way in this hobby, get what you want the first time, stuff is expensive, save for what you want then start keeping the animals you want. The cost of buying stuff just because and then getting what you really should’ve got later is where it starts to hurt.
 
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wdavid

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Here is something I’ve learned the hard way in this hobby, get what you want the first time, stuff is expensive, save for what you want then start keeping the animals you want. The cost of buying stuff just because and then getting what you really should’ve got later is where it starts to hurt.
Yeah like how I should have gone with mp40s for slightly more to start with instead of 2 mp10s :D

Not like I knew better since I was learning from LFSs since I didn't even know about local clubs and such. But would've been nice to save some money
 

Bmasculine

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Yeah like how I should have gone with mp40s for slightly more to start with instead of 2 mp10s :D

Not like I knew better since I was learning from LFSs since I didn't even know about local clubs and such. But would've been nice to save some money
Like I said it’s something I’ve learned the hard way. Everyone on here has done it. But if it’s not something that is gonna crash your tank or put your pets in some harm wait and get what you want, your wallet will thank you in the long run.
 

rkpetersen

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And as a note I do have a bunch of euphyllia and softies still, not sure if suddenly increasing flow a bunch will impact then negatively?

Softies like leathers should be fine, some mushrooms like yumas might not appreciate it and can even come loose from their rocks if stressed out, euphyllias and some other LPS may indeed not like it and stay more retracted.

There's probably a secret to keeping everyone happy in a mixed reef, but I haven't found it yet.
 

kurtp

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I should probably say this in a PM rather than risk getting forum slammed, but I have been very impressed with the Jebao MP 20s. Much cheaper than the Vortechs I used to run, which I was happy with until they became too loud for me to tolerate (I am very sensitive to sound, especially the up and down ramping sound the vortechs started making, so I realize my problem with them wouldn't apply to most aquarists). Anyway, the two Jebaos provide great flow (I have to adjust them down to about 50% on one side, 75% on the other side of my 6 foot, 120 gallon DT to keep my sand as a bed and not a cloud and to keep my 10 year old rose BTA bubbled and not spaghettied.) I know many would say my flow isn't a tenth of what it should be but here is what I used to have when I was just running one vortech 20 and one vortech 10, which was much less flow than the Jebaos provide:

2013 old tank sideshot.jpg


In the spirit of full disclosure, I feel that while I was able to successfully grow SPS with that drastically less than average flow, I did not have universal success. The acros in my tank have never had great PE, I could only get one out of a dozen attempted millipora to survive and quite a few other acro frags I tried never survived the transition to my tank. So something about my tank selected out certain SPS to thrive while others died. Was it flow? You got me, but I thought I'd offer my suggestion so you could at least google search reviews on the Jebaos to see what experience others have had. I know this, for the same price you could get at least twice as many Jebaos as vortechs and blast the soft tissue right out of your euphyllia.
 

rkpetersen

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Alright so I guess I'm gonna just do what everyone on here basically says and just add a ton of flow.

Has anyone used the WAV? I have an apex so I figured I might as well do the research at least

I love my Apices and Neptune gear, but I don't use WAVs. My concern is that, if something like a snail gets into a WAV and jams/stalls it, the amperage draw goes way up, and in some cases this can wreak havoc on the EB it's powered by, and then other components. When something jams a vortech, the wetside will typically fall off; might fall on something, but less dangerous than a system failure.

Yeah I just don't want to disassemble and reassemble pieces to clean them. I really like how I can just throw in the wetside in some vinegar water and forget about it for a bit then clean. Same with jebao, seems like less to clean.
I have XF250 Gyres in two Reefer 450 systems. Also Vortechs in one of them, the faster-flow SPS-heavy mixed reef. The Gyres are a lot more work to clean. Lots of small easy to lose parts that have to be put back together just so. And there is no question that the Gyres produce more motor noise than the Vortechs. At 50% output, the Gyres have a fairly quiet but still noticeable whirr, even when just cleaned. To hear the Vortechs at all, even when near max output, you have to put your ear right up to one.
 
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wdavid

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I should probably say this in a PM rather than risk getting forum slammed, but I have been very impressed with the Jebao MP 20s. Much cheaper than the Vortechs I used to run, which I was happy with until they became too loud for me to tolerate (I am very sensitive to sound, especially the up and down ramping sound the vortechs started making, so I realize my problem with them wouldn't apply to most aquarists). Anyway, the two Jebaos provide great flow (I have to adjust them down to about 50% on one side, 75% on the other side of my 6 foot, 120 gallon DT to keep my sand as a bed and not a cloud and to keep my 10 year old rose BTA bubbled and not spaghettied.) I know many would say my flow isn't a tenth of what it should be but here is what I used to have when I was just running one vortech 20 and one vortech 10, which was much less flow than the Jebaos provide:

2013 old tank sideshot.jpg


In the spirit of full disclosure, I feel that while I was able to successfully grow SPS with that drastically less than average flow, I did not have universal success. The acros in my tank have never had great PE, I could only get one out of a dozen attempted millipora to survive and quite a few other acro frags I tried never survived the transition to my tank. So something about my tank selected out certain SPS to thrive while others died. Was it flow? You got me, but I thought I'd offer my suggestion so you could at least google search reviews on the Jebaos to see what experience others have had. I know this, for the same price you could get at least twice as many Jebaos as vortechs and blast the soft tissue right out of your euphyllia.
Good to hear jebao success stories too, thanks foe the input
 

OriginalUserName

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On my 29 cube I have a koralia 425 on half the time, an icecap 1k ramping to 100% except at night, and two jebao sw-2s ramping to 100%. I still have a few spots that don't have enough flow based on cyano and detritus buildup. Also I've been able to keep a hammer and frogspawn reasonably happy.

On my new redsea 650 (140g) I'm planning on 2 xf 250s (5300 each), 2 WAV (or similar) and probably a third gyre. TBD if that will be enough
 

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