How much flow is too much flow?

[idog]

Hey,

I have an NC24, and have a question about the flow. When I bought the tank, I got an extra heater and an extra PH maxi-jet 1200, due to my fear of one of them crap out on Christmas Eve and not being able to get a replacement. I recently got some hard to care for corals and want to perhaps use the maxi-jet in the tank as well as the stock pump. My question is, will this create too much current? It will be over 500 GPH for the two pumps together. I've seen threads on this forum where people have upgraded NC6's to nearly 180GPH so am I crazy here.

What would be the best way of doing this, and would it create a heat problem? My tank already hovers around 80 dgrees.

Cheers.

 

[reefman23]

you arent crazy at all. Just to give you an idea, I have around 650 GPH in my 20L, but i use a manifold which disperses the flow. If you want to add the additional powerhead, maybe look into a spraybar or just leave the outlet of the powerhead open (dont use a directional attachment). You can have 20-40x turnover rate without any problems as long as the flow is dispersed and not shooting directly in any one direction.

Any time you add more watts to your tank, you may experience a small increase in heat. Have you considered adding a small fan to the lid of your tank? I have seen some mods where they add a small fan to the feeding lid, or remove the feeding lid all together and put a fan there. Anything to create a little bit of airflow over the surface of the water.

I hope I made sense.

HTH,

Jesse

 

[idog]

Thanks for the advice.

This should not affect my fish right? I have a 2 false percs and a firefish. These won't be buffeted by the current too much should they?

 

[reefman23]

The clowns seem to like it. Clowns and firefish are both pretty strong swimmers too... won't be a problem.

Jesse

 

[idog]

I set up the maxijet 1200 under my rocks today, and angled it so that it sprays back toward the wall of the fuge and into my rocks to disperse the flow. My corals, LOVE it, I have a cabbage and a toadstool that were being a bit fussy, so we will see if they like the new flow.

My clowns don't mind, they just found a new haunt with the flow they like. The firefish on the other hand seems to be hiding in the rockwork more. It's too bad, he was very active and curious of me before. I'll let him get used to it before I worry though.
If this continues, I'm thinking of setting up a timer for the maxi-jet that will turn it on at night only, This should alleviate temp issues with my lights being on, and give the firefish a chance to be active in the day. My night feeding corals (ie candy canes)will get the benefit of the flow at night and my firefish sleeps in my rocks anyway.
Does this sound like a good idea, or should current be constant?

Input is much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

i would leave it on and guess the fire will get use to it most of your corals will benifit from having it on day and night - leathers close at night.
also a side note for others reading this thread with flow issues look at the seio 620. it sounds like a lot of flow for a small tank but it is very dispersed due to the design and a far less powerfull jet then a maxi - but moves a lot of water at very low pressure. put one of these behind your rock and you'll never have a detritus or flow problem again

 

[idog]

So far the doubled flow is having a huge effect. I've never seen such extension in my polyps!!! My sand is much cleaner too as smaller particles stay suspended. My toadstool hasn't opened yet, but it has a mind of its own so I'm not gonna worry yet. My candy canes are in heaven, and my firefish was out this morning. So far, I would recommend upgrading flow to stock NC users.