Too Much Flow? Cant be, Right?

[Addicted2Acro]

Hey all, most of my acros have limited polyp extension especially during the day. Some of them had much better extension when I bought them and they receded once they were put in my tank. Most the ones I am concerned about have been in the tank for anywhere from 3 days to maybe 3 weeks. Video of the tank and a few of the corals is below. Let me know if flow seems adequate, too much, or too little. Lights are in acclimation mode right now due to adding a 3rd ai blade. 270ish par at the acro level. Other levels are monitored closely and within all common ranges. Alk 8.5, Ca 425, etc... Po4 .03 NO3 2.5. Let me know if any other info would help. Getting frustrated that every coral i put in the tank looks worse than it did in the tank it came from. Tank is like 5-6 months old.

 

[mook1178]

Seems to me they are acclimating to their new tank. Give it at least a month to allow them to acclimate

 

[Addicted2Acro]

Thanks for your feedback. Flow looks ok to you?

 

[Faurek]

Flow is how they exchange nutrients and gases, they need a lot of flow, can't see the video, but a general guide imo is atleast 100x circulation with the highest flow zones being the best for SPS in general.

 

[bubbgee]

Flow looks fine based on the surface. What I would do is use a baster to blow air bubbles against the gyre to see how the flow goes from the gyre to the sps frags. If the bubbles flow around the frag, you know that the flow gets there. If the bubbles dont flow there and disperses, you might need to add more flow or point the gyres downward a bit. You can also use an air stone/air pump to test the flow.

Than shows this from his video at 3:32. This has been invaluable information on how to visualize flow from the pump to my frags.

 

[World Citizen]

Okay... I am old. At least I am starting to get old :).

If I just look at the tank... this seems to be a tank that has just been started... or you clean everything like Cinderella should have been doing.

I can't say for sure here... but it seems like this tank has just been started?

 

[mboley]

That's a lot of acros for a tank just 5-6 months old. Do you have any Coraline algae growing yet? If not your tank isn't really ready. And your Nitrates and Phosphates need to be increased. 10-15 nitrates and about .1 phosphates works well. I'm 4 months in on a dedicated SPS tank and will wait at least until month 9 to add any sps. In the meantime just fish, a clean up crew, and a few softies to look at. I have a lot of experience with sps; had a TOTM way back in 98 for a 240 gallon SPS tank.

 

[Science/G]

Flow looks good.