Water flow

[Barb0713]

Hi, my name is Barb and I am a veteran freshwater keeper , I currently have 4 of those . I just dove into my first saltwater tank . A 20 gallon nano reef. It’s doing well. So far 3 fish
A peppermint shrimp
A hermit crab
Some live rock transplanted from an established tank and a Kenya tree coral frag.
I am adding alot more coral on Monday , now that everything is stable and the life in there is throbbing
I need to install more movement
I have a 660 gph pump. That is a lot !!! I installed and took it out right away.
some people say I only need 100 gph others say the more the better.
any opinions on what I should do ?

thanks

 

[Nano sapiens]

Welcome to the salty side

The amount of flow needed in a reef tank is dependent on a number of factors.

What is the shape of your tank (cube, long rectangle, deep, shallow)?

How much live rock/obstructions are there that are disrupting flow?

Are you only planning on soft coral, mushrooms and other soft bodied corals?

One thing to consider is that most pumps allow you to slow down the flow rate with a 'slider' mechanism. So your 660 gph pump may be capable of going down to perhaps 1/2 the max flow rate (or even less).

Can you post a photo?

 

[Garf]

Hi, my name is Barb and I am a veteran freshwater keeper , I currently have 4 of those . I just dove into my first saltwater tank . A 20 gallon nano reef. It’s doing well. So far 3 fish
A peppermint shrimp
A hermit crab
Some live rock transplanted from an established tank and a Kenya tree coral frag.
I am adding alot more coral on Monday , now that everything is stable and the life in there is throbbing
I need to install more movement
I have a 660 gph pump. That is a lot !!! I installed and took it out right away.
some people say I only need 100 gph others say the more the better.
any opinions on what I should do ?

thanks

I had a softy tank with minimal movement, did ok. I also did it with an aggressive surge, did great.

 

[Uncle99]

if you run it to fast it lowers contact time through the sump and filtration systems which makes them less efficient. While we want water moving, we don’t need to “flying”, this is accomplished by wavemakers.

100-200 gallon return pump is 5 to 10 turns per hour. Fast enough. I always recommend a DC controllable return pump as they are silent, and easy to ramp up/down in small increments

Now wavemakers, they can push as much as your tank requires for it’s inhabitants, I’m at 30 times with a lot of sticks.

So while my water moves fast in the DT, it moves slower through any filtration.

 

[Barb0713]

Welcome to the salty side

The amount of flow needed in a reef tank is dependent on a number of factors.

What is the shape of your tank (cube, long rectangle, deep, shallow)?

How much live rock/obstructions are there that are disrupting flow?

Are you only planning on soft coral, mushrooms and other soft bodied corals?

One thing to consider is that most pumps allow you to slow down the flow rate with a 'slider' mechanism. So your 660 gph pump may be capable of going down to perhaps 1/2 the max flow rate (or even less).

Can you post a photo?

Thanks I’ll post a photo. It’s a 20 g tall. I only have 2 big chunks of rock right now. Just got everything balanced and cycled. So I am gna add some more rock and coral. I don’t think the pump is adjustable. I was told today that it may be fine. I’ll buy a different one if necessary , but this is an economy tank. Lol

 

[Barb0713]

 

[Barb0713]

I tried to post a video :/

 

[Barb0713]

Thanks I’ll post a photo. It’s a 20 g tall. I only have 2 big chunks of rock right now. Just got everything balanced and cycled. So I am gna add some more rock and coral. I don’t think the pump is adjustable. I was told today that it may be fine. I’ll buy a different one if necessary , but this is an economy tank. Lol

 

[Barb0713]

Try it this way lol I’m sorry

 

[Dom]

Hi, my name is Barb and I am a veteran freshwater keeper , I currently have 4 of those . I just dove into my first saltwater tank . A 20 gallon nano reef. It’s doing well. So far 3 fish
A peppermint shrimp
A hermit crab
Some live rock transplanted from an established tank and a Kenya tree coral frag.
I am adding alot more coral on Monday , now that everything is stable and the life in there is throbbing
I need to install more movement
I have a 660 gph pump. That is a lot !!! I installed and took it out right away.
some people say I only need 100 gph others say the more the better.
any opinions on what I should do ?

thanks

Flow should be chaotic; people sometimes point all of their flow in the same direction. But it is better to point flow directly at each other so that their currents collide and create movement throughout the tank.

 

[Barb0713]

So the video isn’t working , trying a pic

 

[Barb0713]

So it’s just beginning. I am getting my lighting tomorrow and going to pick out coral. I might purchase another piece of live rock with coral already on it for the left side of the tank and then add more frags throughout the existing rock.