Moving the right amount of water: How would you classify the flow rate in your tank?

[Peace River]

Moving the right amount of water: How would you classify the flow rate in your tank?

Water movement is important to reef tanks, but there are many aspects to consider. The water turnover from the sump, the surface agitation, the strength and variation in flow rates throughout the tank, and dwell time in an UV filter or skimmer, all are factors to consider. Additionally, laminar versus turbulent flow has an impact. The types of corals and fish will often help us make decisions about flow in our tank – watching a torch dancing in the flow can be mesmerizing! This flow can come from return pumps, powerheads, and more and the aquascape and direction of the pumps and plumbing can determine the flow angles and paths within the tank. It is possible to use only a return pump and random flow generator for some systems and other systems may need powerful powerheads placed at various angles. Please tell us about the in-tank flow choices that you have made for your tank and share any tips that you may have to optimize the flow levels. How would you classify the flow rate in your tank – low, medium, high, or variable?

Photo by @WWC


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[Floyd-]

I have 2 spin stream nozzles and two Nero 3's on my 25 Lagoon. Nero's are random and only 20% max.

 

[14 foot reef]

I have ............
2 MP60's 4 Different settings per 24 hour period
2 Gyre XF 350's 4 Different settings in 24 hour period
2 MRC 6100's as return pumps, 1 of them running through 4 way Oceans Motions valve ( Been running for 22 years )

 

[ReefGeezer]

Mp40 blowing across my 90 reef set @ 70% on Reef Crest setting and an FX350 on the other end pulsing 60% forward and 100% reverse in 12 second intervals. This makes for a moderate and somewhat variable flow rate.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a combination of power heads and gyres

 

[shakacuz]

i have 2 Nero 3's on variable flow. i have 2 RFG's on my return as well. looking to get a gyre soon.

 

[Alexraptor]

Which tank?

My 15G has a single Tunze 6020 providing steady turbulent flow.
My 25G Reef has two Tunze 6055 on a Tunze 7097 controller, alternating every 6 hours and running on a random pulse mode between 30% and 100% power.
My 25G Mantis tank has a single 6020 as well, steady turbulent, but low/med flow for a tank of that size.

My newly started up 38G SPS reef has two Tunze 6040's, facing eachother at opposite ends of the tank, running in pulse mode between 30% and 100% power. One pump having a pulse lenght of 4-5 seconds and the other has a full 10 seconds. At peak flow output thats roughly a 62x turnover rate, but in reality it's probably more like 40x if I had to guess. And with the pumps operating asynchronously it produces a tremendous of random currents and eddies, which also has the virtue of letting me keep ultra fine sand without it shifting around too much.

 

[CNDReef]

40 Breeder 2x 4K gyres on sps reef mode at 75% max flow

 

[CRABDADDY]

My 40g AIO has two Nero 5s running around 40-50%. They're pointed directly at each other to provide some random flow.

My 120g tank is only 2 months old, so there's no corals in there yet, but it's going to be sps dominant. I currently have 3 MP40s, which I haven't bothered to dial in because of the lack of corals. I'm thinking of adding some more gyres I have laying around to provide different types of flow from different angles once I start adding corals.

 

[RichWise73]

I have two Nero 3's in my WB Cube 20. They are on opposite sides and random flow throughout the day. Between them and the return, I get a nice flow of water through the tank.

 

[o2manyfish]

Abyzz A200 Return - About 2400gph at the tank
(2) Abyzz AFC-150 Flow Canons - 1 in wave mode
(1) Panta Rhei ECM 63
(1) Tunze Stream 3

This is all in a 125 low boy.... No just kidding,... This is in a 120x48x30 750g tank. The water movement is chaotic all around the tank. All 3 flow pumps run on different random timers so it's always a different flow movement. 2x a day all the in tank pumps shut off for a few hours - Sunrise and when the light come on in the late afternoon.

The Tunze Stream 3 might seem out of place with such monster pumps. But it's stuck inside of the rock work and points straight to the top of the tank. It creates a mushroom boil of water that creates really great flow down the aquascape and does some awesome gas exchange and breaking up the oils that build up on the surface after feeding meaty fish foods.

Dave B

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

Moving the right amount of water: How would you classify the flow rate in your tank?

...... It is possible to use only a return pump and random flow generator for some systems .....

it is definitely possible to use just the Random Flow generator® to create all the flow need in a reef tank, and it can be quite simple too. Our office tank is a great example - it s 134-galloin cube flow with a dual closed loop and 1in RFG nozzles - this tank has never seen a power head in its life.

This is how we set up the office tank

This is the result

You can also extend this method to coral growout systems as well




And for smaller tanks, in many cases, a single Random Flow Generator is all you need

 

[SPS2020]

High flow for me.

2 ReefWave 45's on the back wall at 90%-100% and a MPQD 40 (variable ~2k-3.8k gph) on the bottom right rear of the tank to keep the floor clean.

 

[design.maddie]

I have my two 6040s Maxed out with the screens off so that they are pushing the maximum amount of water as they can. I use the special grade sand and it is still blown around. I like it. I still want more flow.

I miss my closed loop systems with 4 outlets on the bottom glass using the Ocean Motion's device. Then I had a dual split return from the sump. There were no dead spots in that tank.

 

[210_Reef]

I prefer variable flow. In my 92 corner I have two Jebao Gyres on timers that alternate on and off every 30 minutes with the flow ramping up and down when on and the timers set to overlap a bit for a few minutes of more chaotic flow and allow a few minutes of calm every hour during the photoperiod.

 

[sesbalders]

Weird how this thread has come up, my sow 8 blew up Thursday night, off to buy a new unit today. So at the minute I have an older mw 40 in there, trouble is it’s way way to powerful so I’d have to say, at the moment it’s like a scene from Hawaii 50

 

[Azael]

I think the flow in my tank is medium