Looking for advice on how to make my flow less direct

[Sockcman]

I've had my first corals in for almost two weeks and I'm starting to think there might be problems with my flow being too high / direct in some areas. My tank is a DIY AIO 20 gallon long with a sicce syncra 1.0 return pump and hygger nano wavemaker. The return and wavemaker are pointed slightly upward.


The corals seem to be getting good flow where they are but there's a few issues:
- some polyps on birds nest are permanently pushed to one side, not swaying around gently.
- I want to move the hammer to where the red circle is in the picture but the polyps get blasted over to one side when I place it there.


Can anyone tell me how my flow looks with the corals where they are now and if there's any way I can make my flow less direct in certain areas?

Thank you!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

the flow seems pretty good to me, the polyps should jiggle exactly the way I like.

It looks like the powerhead and return are on the same side? That creates a one way linear flow. IMO it is usually better to aim 2 flows towards each other so they bounce and create random flow patterns.

But flow is not easy to set up, it takes a lot of experimenting, good luck

 

[Sockcman]

the flow seems pretty good to me, the polyps should jiggle exactly the way I like.

It looks like the powerhead and return are on the same side? That creates a one way linear flow. IMO it is usually better to aim 2 flows towards each other so they bounce and create random flow patterns.

But flow is not easy to set up, it takes a lot of experimenting, good luck

Right now the return is on the pane towards the rear and the wavemaker is on the right pane towards the front and they are pointed straight out.

I guess I could point the wavemaker towards the return or move the wavemaker more to the rear.

Thanks!

 

[Grog]

Something I do if I want to keep from blasting a spot, is put a powerhead behind a rock(s) and crank it up. That way the flow is kind of diffused and chaotic, and not blowing directly on any polyps. (My rockwork is kind of a wall along the back, and I don't have any corals on the back side of the wall.)

Some corals are just more sensitive to direct flow on them than others.

And yes, playing with flow is an artform. Lots of trial and error.