Flow, turnover rate - how low can you go?

[betareef]

There are some self contained aquariums that are quite cheap, have built in LED lights, and a built in filter with a powerhead pushing water around the tank at about 10x the volume per hour. I have started back into the hobby with a small nano setup using one of these.

So, that seems a bare minimum for a few fish and some easy to keep corals. I only have a sinularia leather and some green star polyps in there with the fish at the moment, and they seem happy, expanding and extending polyps. The leather cycles between closed and expanded about once a day. The GSP come out when the lights come on in the morning, and close at night. There's just enough flow to slightly disturb/wave the polyps.

I'd also like to experiment with some frags of duncans and acans, maybe some mushrooms, to see how they will like it. Just wondering how you think this will go. Should I add a small powerhead to double the flow around the tank?

 

[Dorsetsteve]

With flow being the cheapest and easiest “problem” to solve I’m not sure why you’d want to engage in this particular project.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Certain discosoma mushrooms seem to PREFER almost no flow and very dim light. My superman discosmoas grow best essentially in a fully shaded cave that likely has almost 0 flow

 

[betareef]

With flow being the cheapest and easiest “problem” to solve I’m not sure why you’d want to engage in this particular project.

I'm puzzling over your comment. It's a self contained tank with built-in powerhead, filter and lights. Adding stuff to a small self-contained unit like this consumes precious real estate in the tank itself, and is detrimental to the look. If I really don't need it, I would rather not add it. OTOH, yes, I know it is easy to add.

 

[betareef]

Certain discosoma mushrooms seem to PREFER almost no flow and very dim light. My superman discosmoas grow best essentially in a fully shaded cave that likely has almost 0 flow

That would make them a desirable addition to this tank. Thanks for that recommendation.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What you have is called an all-in one (AIO) tank. It is a pump (we call it a return pump) that pumps water back to the main display. We usually refer to powerhead as the "fan" that goes in the main tank.

More flow is beneficial to an aquarium in so many ways. It brings oxygen and nutrients to the corals, keeps uneaten food and detritus in the water column so it can be filtered out. It reduces low flow areas where detritus builds up. It also discourages algae. And our fish come from the ocean which is naturally a high flow area.

My softie tank (mushrooms, zoa's, and leathers) has about 30x water turnover turnover

 

[fish farmer]

What you have is called an all-in one (AIO) tank. It is a pump (we call it a return pump) that pumps water back to the main display. We usually refer to powerhead as the "fan" that goes in the main tank.

More flow is beneficial to an aquarium in so many ways. It brings oxygen and nutrients to the corals, keeps uneaten food and detritus in the water column so it can be filtered out. It also discourages algae. And our fish come from the ocean which is naturally a high flow area.

My softie tank (mushrooms, zoa's, and leathers) has about 30x water turnover turnover

Same thoughts here.

I set up my tank back 13 years ago with just a glass holes overflow 750 gph for a 29 gallon tank, it was probably lower due to pumping height. I was soon adding a circulating pump in tank.

Eventually I added a second pump, which I keep on trying different models for more disturbance. I just bought the larger hygger nano pump that I can regulate pulses and angle the flow better.

Since I have hammers I have to glance the flow off the glass.

I feel with my tank based on coral growth and overflow placement I need to stir up the tank more to keep detritus, etc. suspended to get to the overflow. If I use less circulation it is just rotating the waste in the tank or just staying put on the bottom.

To the OP, you can try lower flow to start out and buy an additional pump later on.

 

[Readywriter]

Years ago, back in the early 2000's the discussion wasnt focused on how much overall flow you had in a tank but how turbulent that flow was. In other words having two small pumps blowing into each others flow and causing a more storm like flow pattern was prefable to having one larger pump.

So, with that, the return pump pointing toward the middle of the water column but high enough to disturb the surface and then one smaller powerhead mounted on the back wall and pointing at the lower portion of the return pumps flow can distribute a good amount of flow where you need it to go. And what smaller means depends on your tank size. That being said you generally want in tank flow to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10x tank volume.

Is that number absolutely necessary? Depends on your corals but if the flow is on the very low end theres gonna be a lot of junk accumulating on your corals, rocks and sand. A healthy reef tank is going to have on the order of billions of creatures crapping in it.

 

[ca1ore]

You could certainly put a small wave maker power head in the tank. I did that when I owned a couple of AIO tanks. At the time, Jebao made small ones.

 

[betareef]

My softie tank (mushrooms, zoa's, and leathers) has about 30x water turnover turnover

That would be my maximum then. I'd have to be careful how I distribute the flow in such a small area though.

Since I have hammers I have to glance the flow off the glass.

That's a trick I discovered in bigger tanks as well, back last time I had some aquariums some years ago. I also had some success aiming at the surface and just letting the flow "boil" over.

To the OP, you can try lower flow to start out and buy an additional pump later on.

That is the plan, although I may add a small powerhead sooner rather than later.

That being said you generally want in tank flow to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10x tank volume.

Which is how the designers of this tank sized the existing powerhead on the filter (for freshwater I imagine).

 

[betareef]

That is the plan, although I may add a small powerhead sooner rather than later.

replying to myself - this morning I purchased a small powerhead that will not be too obtrusive with a directional nozzle, and aimed it to benefit the leather and GSPs. Total turnover in the tank is now about 15x, but faster flow where it is more needed.

 

[Jimbobalou622]

There are some self contained aquariums that are quite cheap, have built in LED lights, and a built in filter with a powerhead pushing water around the tank at about 10x the volume per hour. I have started back into the hobby with a small nano setup using one of these.

So, that seems a bare minimum for a few fish and some easy to keep corals. I only have a sinularia leather and some green star polyps in there with the fish at the moment, and they seem happy, expanding and extending polyps. The leather cycles between closed and expanded about once a day. The GSP come out when the lights come on in the morning, and close at night. There's just enough flow to slightly disturb/wave the polyps.

I'd also like to experiment with some frags of duncans and acans, maybe some mushrooms, to see how they will like it. Just wondering how you think this will go. Should I add a small powerhead to double the flow around the tank?

What size is the tank?

 

[betareef]

What size is the tank?

mine is 52 litres

 

[Jimbobalou622]

mine is 52 litres

I would add a Powerhead if you are going to add sps but otherwise I’d probably leave it as is

 

[betareef]

I would add a Powerhead if you are going to add sps but otherwise I’d probably leave it as is

Thanks. Not really wanting to go sps so...

 

[Dorsetsteve]

I'm puzzling over your comment. It's a self contained tank with built-in powerhead, filter and lights. Adding stuff to a small self-contained unit like this consumes precious real estate in the tank itself, and is detrimental to the look. If I really don't need it, I would rather not add it. OTOH, yes, I know it is easy to add.

I don’t know how much you know, so I will base my reply on that vein.

Flow is the lungs of a coral, without it metabolic processes will stuff. In short a coral in the dark will live days, without flow things will go bad fast. You need that flow not only to supply to remove things.

I 100% understand your concern with the aesthetic but there’s some very compact flow pumps these days, they would allow you to descretly add random flow and control it. Relying on just the circulation pump of the AIO system will limit your ability to keep a diversity of life and will increase maintenance issues especially further down the line.

 

[homer1475]

Aesthetics or keeping living animals alive? Pretty much a no brainer if you ask me.

Think I would take "keeping the animals in our care alive" for $100 bob.