water movement

dopey26776 · 04-10-2006, 01:31 AM

currently in my 55g reef i have two powerheads alternating on and off on either side of tank. Seems like an awful lot of current in the tank, my xenias blow around like palm trees in a hurricane. its nice as I seem to not have any dead spots in the tank, and not enough to blow up and sand but am worried that may be too much for the corals, although most seem to be pretty happy.or could be I am super paranoid and worrying about nothing. The heads are maxi-jet 900's. Thanks again for any insight into this.

Loverotties · 04-10-2006, 07:16 AM

Thats why there differnt parts to a reef for dif. corals ,some like a lot of light,curant etc and some don't.So you can put them all at dif. levels.

Little Luey · 04-10-2006, 09:02 AM

I really don't believe you have a lot of flow in the tank. Most people have at least 10x the volume of the tank so this would be 550gph on your tank. The MJ900 is about 250gph (not sure on this, the MJ1200 is closer to 300gph so I guess the 900 is less) so really you do not have the 10x minimum. Some of the guys will tell you that there is no such thing as too much flow based on what they have.
Now you do not want direct flow on the coral, so maybe direct the flow to the surface of to the fron glass not to the rocks.

skeety · 04-10-2006, 09:05 AM

sounds like a good amount of flow...but MAYBE want to move the xenia to a slightly less aggitated area? They like flow...but if they're bent completely over..they may not like that.

(but they usually will move if they're not happy...albeit slowly, but still)

motorslave · 04-10-2006, 12:02 PM

Not much flow. I had 2200 gph in a 55 and wanted more (Im not right in the head though!) Its a matter of the placement of the flow. just adjust the diurections a bit till you find a sweet spot that everyone can live with. Try directing soime flow to the dark un reachable portions of the tank (i.e. behind/under rock etc...) Surface movement is very important too.

R

Caoineag · 04-10-2006, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dopey26776

currently in my 55g reef i have two powerheads alternating on and off on either side of tank. Seems like an awful lot of current in the tank, my xenias blow around like palm trees in a hurricane. its nice as I seem to not have any dead spots in the tank, and not enough to blow up and sand but am worried that may be too much for the corals, although most seem to be pretty happy.or could be I am super paranoid and worrying about nothing. The heads are maxi-jet 900's. Thanks again for any insight into this.

Hmm..sounds like you need to adjust the aim of your maxi's. I have 3 maxi 1200's in my 55g and only have gentle swaying going on BUT I did adjust mine to make sure there was surface agitation and no heads aimed at anything but glass and rock. Also keep in mind that you need flow on all water levels not just top or bottom.