Is the Stock return pump on Fluval evo 13.5 sufficient flow for corals?

[Parsely]

I am about 9 months into having my first reef tank, a Fluval evo 13.5. I have started adding some new corals, a Duncan and pulsing Xenia. I have a zoa garden from earlier in the year.

Is the stock return pump sufficient flow for these corals? I have added a Fluval CP1 circulation pump that is 265 g/h(1000 l/h), this was one of the smallest ones I was able to find and it says it’s for 15g tanks so I thought it would work well in my Fluval, but no matter where I position it one of the corals just seems to get blasted with one directional flow. Even if i angle it away, the flow bounces off the wall and seems to be really aggressive on the corals.

So now I am wondering if it’s just too much for my little tank and the return pump is enough flow as it is. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Propane]

Are the corals unhappy?

 

[Parsely]

Are the corals unhappy?

They are new so I can’t really tell right now. I have just been trying to put the wave maker in different spots but it always seems to result in them getting blown quite aggressively in one direction which I read was bad

 

[Propane]

Do they get decent movement without the wave maker?

 

[Parsely]

Do they get decent movement without the wave maker?

I’d say very gentle movement, I am thinking of trying a day or 2 without the wave maker and see how they look

 

[Narideth]

Most people who have an Evo - myself included - feel that the stock pump does not put out enough flow by itself. I upgraded the return pump and added a wave maker, but I think an upgraded pump alone would be sufficient for most softies and LPS with some creative angles and a random flow generator nozel.

I could even be overthinking that much, but I will say that it took me a lot of tweaking to get my wave maker to not blast around, and that's mostly because it has a random setting, so between the high flow and the lowest flow, it's a very pleasant pulsing.

The flow will be particular to your needs in all cases. I wanted higher flow because I wanted big LPS like hammers and tricker corals that need it like my purple whip gorgonian. Your corals and your filtering management will be the best indicator!

 

[Narideth]

I wanted to give a visual about how you can use flow in this tank. I have a splitter on the return, with a random flow generator on the one pointed forward while the one running down the back of the tank is a flat nozzle. The wavemaker is situated off-center in the rear pointing forwards, and the flat nozzle's flow partially intersects it, so it bounces all over the place and deflects a little.

You can see the flow doesn't really blast any one area for more than a second, and there are no dead spots. Things are a little cloudy at the moment since I just finished a water change with a stir up of the sand but there you go

 

[Parsely]

I wanted to give a visual about how you can use flow in this tank. I have a splitter on the return, with a random flow generator on the one pointed forward while the one running down the back of the tank is a flat nozzle. The wavemaker is situated off-center in the rear pointing forwards, and the flat nozzle's flow partially intersects it, so it bounces all over the place and deflects a little.

You can see the flow doesn't really blast any one area for more than a second, and there are no dead spots. Things are a little cloudy at the moment since I just finished a water change with a stir up of the sand but there you go

Thanks for all the info! Ill try doing something similar where the wave maker intersects the return pumps flow and see how that goes. Maybe ill need to upgrade it to one that has a pulse setting like yours.

Great looking tank btw

 

[Narideth]

Thanks for all the info! Ill try doing something similar where the wave maker intersects the return pumps flow and see how that goes. Maybe ill need to upgrade it to one that has a pulse setting like yours.

Great looking tank btw

Thank you! Figuring out flow was tough for me, so, I'm hopeful it helps at all! I had one without a random setting and I just didn't like it, but I know a lot of folk situate their wave maker on the opposite side of the return and that seems to suit them fine as well, so the two currents clash against each other in the middle. I don't remember exactly why, but I couldn't put mine there.

 

[ScottJ]

I use a Hydor Koralia Nano 240gph pump on the back wall, right up next to the return, kind of pointed at the far opposite corner. I use a Syncra Silent 0.5 for the return with a random flow nozzle pointing almost straight out and up at the surface a bit. This seems to give me a clockwise, moderate flow broken up a bit by the RFG. Just zoas and mushrooms in the tank.

I just didn't like the look of a pump on the glass with the cord running down the outside.

 

[Parsely]

I use a Hydor Koralia Nano 240gph pump on the back wall, right up next to the return, kind of pointed at the far opposite corner. I use a Syncra Silent 0.5 for the return with a random flow nozzle pointing almost straight out and up at the surface a bit. This seems to give me a clockwise, moderate flow broken up a bit by the RFG. Just zoas and mushrooms in the tank.

I just didn't like the look of a pump on the glass with the cord running down the outside.

Ya, there are so few options for placement that hides the cord nicely

 

[Narideth]

The position of mine makes that easier since, despite being a peninsula, I only observe from the 'front'. A piece of heavy black paper to cover the back and the only cord I see is the 3 inches going up from the wavemaker itself. I totally understand otherwise though, if I'd put it at the opposite end, yeah, not nice to look at.

 

[Ianderson80]

Most people who have an Evo - myself included - feel that the stock pump does not put out enough flow by itself. I upgraded the return pump and added a wave maker, but I think an upgraded pump alone would be sufficient for most softies and LPS with some creative angles and a random flow generator nozel.

I could even be overthinking that much, but I will say that it took me a lot of tweaking to get my wave maker to not blast around, and that's mostly because it has a random setting, so between the high flow and the lowest flow, it's a very pleasant pulsing.

The flow will be particular to your needs in all cases. I wanted higher flow because I wanted big LPS like hammers and tricker corals that need it like my purple whip gorgonian. Your corals and your filtering management will be the best indicator!

What did you use for the upgrade pump

 

[Narideth]

What did you use for the upgrade pump

I used this offbrand from amazon that I took under recommendation from other people with evos. - VIVOSUN 210GPH Submersible Pump. It fits perfectly and I have just enough flow for two 1/4 " nozzles, one of which is a random flow generator.

I think if I were going to be using just the pump, I'd go for something even higher, over 250gph if I could manage it in this size, but it's no slouch. I just wanted a buncha flow.

The Eheim Compact 1000 is often recommended as well, you're getting closer to 265gph, but at three times the cost. Some people say that it get too warm though. Still, that extra oomph might be worth it!

The SICCE Syncra Silent 0.5 is another option, but it only puts out 185gph. Hope that helps!

 

[Ianderson80]

Thank you