How does this look for flow?

[Thalia]

75 gallon just starting to cycle, lights are on for the video. I have overflow and gyre (set to sine wave) on the left and power head and return on the right. I noticed a lot of stuff floating around in the water so thought I'd use it to evaluate my flow the really brown rocks will be coming out and going in the sump before fish go in, they're from a friend's tank to get the cycle started. What do we think? I have a protein skimmer that I haven't turned on yet but I'm wondering about surface agitation, do I need more? How should I get it? Return is a vsr-9000 set at level 3. Powerhead is hygger mini 6w, gyre is hygger 18w.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I would say that is a low flow tank IMO

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Agree... this looks like low flow. What do you intend to keep?

 

[Thalia]

Soft/lps an anemone, plus fish (gobies, clowns, cardinals, damsels, eventually mandarins). That's interesting it feels like so much flow in comparison to my freshwater tank lol

 

[Pistondog]

Soft/lps an anemone, plus fish (gobies, clowns, cardinals, damsels, eventually mandarins). That's interesting it feels like so much flow in comparison to my freshwater tank lol

Flow is mostly suffucient for those critters. You might have to place lps in your higher flow areas.

It is difficult to gauge the flow without something as telltales, just a few particles floating around.

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Soft/lps an anemone, plus fish (gobies, clowns, cardinals, damsels, eventually mandarins). That's interesting it feels like so much flow in comparison to my freshwater tank lol

Some LPS may like more flow than this. In fact, a few softies may enjoy a bit more also. Do you have an airpump (optional: airstone)? If you place the air source on the inlet side of each flow device and turn both on, try posting a video of that. It would be helpful for others to better understand what's going on.
How much adjustment upside do you have on your powerhead and gyre?

 

[Thalia]

Some LPS may like more flow than this. In fact, a few softies may enjoy a bit more also. Do you have an airpump (optional: airstone)? If you place the air source on the inlet side of each flow device and turn both on, try posting a video of that. It would be helpful for others to better understand what's going on.
How much adjustment upside do you have on your powerhead and gyre?

Oh I do have a battery air stone, I'll try that after lunch!
I'm not sure what you mean by upside adjustment, do you mean increase the flow or the placement in the tank?

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Oh I do have a battery air stone, I'll try that after lunch!
I'm not sure what you mean by upside adjustment, do you mean increase the flow or the placement in the tank?

Increase flow.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Soft/lps an anemone, plus fish (gobies, clowns, cardinals, damsels, eventually mandarins). That's interesting it feels like so much flow in comparison to my freshwater tank lol

Flow is more important in a salt tank than in a freswater tank. algae is not a big issue in freshwater, but its a huge issue in saltewater. Detritus will build up in low flow area's causing bad bacteria and algae to grow.

Also we cannot see the water surface on that video, but salt water doesn't hold oxygen as well as freshwater, so surface agitation is important to help with oxygenation, there should be ripples going across the surface and personally I like to see the occasional bubble going into the water.

 

[Thalia]

I did the bubble trick and realised my gyre was facing down, that's not helpful lol I fixed it, there's more surface agitation now. Do I need to worry about having more flow front to back though? I need to read the gyre manual again and see if I can increase its power. I have it on sine wave, would another pattern be better?

 

[Thalia]

Flow is more important in a salt tank than in a freswater tank. algae is not a big issue in freshwater, but its a huge issue in saltewater. Detritus will build up in low flow area's causing bad bacteria and algae to grow.

Also we cannot see the water surface on that video, but salt water doesn't hold oxygen as well as freshwater, so surface agitation is important to help with oxygenation, there should be ripples going across the surface and personally I like to see the occasional bubble going into the water.

I posted new videos with bubbles! I also will be changing the return nozzle, I'm just waiting for a part. I'm planning on having it barely under the surface to create more surface agitation.

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Two (hopefully) easy things to try:
1. Move the powerhead up and directly opposite the gyre so they blow into each other, near the surface.
2. Point your return diagonally across the tank to get more front to back action.
Continue to use the "bubble audit" to see the result of each change. You want to go for two effects: lots of surface agitation and bubble chaos everywhere in the tank (during the bubble audit), as much as possible.
Watch this video:

 

[Cthulukelele]

I also want to add if you just started using the gyres, they often run with bubbles for a few days before they start to grow some biofilm and settle

 

[Thalia]

Two (hopefully) easy things to try:
1. Move the powerhead up and directly opposite the gyre so they blow into each other, near the surface.
2. Point your return diagonally across the tank to get more front to back action.
Continue to use the "bubble audit" to see the result of each change. You want to go for two effects: lots of surface agitation and bubble chaos everywhere in the tank (during the bubble audit), as much as possible.
Watch this video:

Thank you things look better. Are you able to explain the difference in the waves the gyre makes? Mine says it can do 5 types
Classic wave pulse
Sine wave
Constant wave
Random waves
Classic wave cross flow
I understand random, constant and sine but what is the difference between cross flow and pulse?

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

I don't know the maker's lingo, so I'd be guessing. Just try each one with the bubbles on and see what they do. Also, when you are satisfied, please post an updated video!

 

[Thalia]

I don't know the maker's lingo, so I'd be guessing. Just try each one with the bubbles on and see what they do. Also, when you are satisfied, please post an updated video!

Ok I moved the gyre down and towards the front of the tank a little because the pulses were affecting the overflow and making it noisy. I also settled on sine wave. If I had 2 gyres I'd probably do one of the pulsing ones and have them opposite each other but I think this plus the steady from the Powerhead on the other side of the tank is creating good turbulence!

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

You are probably in good shape to start out, but continue to do the bubble audit when you start adding corals. A few frags won't make a difference, but you should research the needs of each type of coral you are going to purchase and see if the spot you intend to place it meets its flow needs. Also, the flow will change as your corals grow, so do the bubble audit whenever you observe significant growth (or make changes to the rock work, etc.) Good luck. Be sure to start a tank thread so we can all follow along!

 

[Thalia]

You are probably in good shape to start out, but continue to do the bubble audit when you start adding corals. A few frags won't make a difference, but you should research the needs of each type of coral you are going to purchase and see if the spot you intend to place it meets its flow needs. Also, the flow will change as your corals grow, so do the bubble audit whenever you observe significant growth (or make changes to the rock work, etc.) Good luck. Be sure to start a tank thread so we can all follow along!

Thank you! I'm planning on starting slow and with easy ones once the tank is finished cycling. I also need to get a nem guard for the powerhead and gyre.