ylmaya, i think the general rule of thumb is you want to cycle the total amount of water in your tank 10 times per hour. i'm not sure what size tank you have or what type of corals. but if you could include that then some of the experts could really help, also include the shape of tank as well as maybe dimensions. my 0.02
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Well, water movement is pretty relative... it mainly depends on how big of a mass of water you're moving at once.
While our tanks may seem like 'high' flow, I don't think there's any way we could come close to the water movement in the ocean without knocking our tanks off their stand.
In my tank for instance (a 55g) I have a Mag5 return pushing about a 6' head, so it's running at about the 300gph level through the sump.
I also have 6 MJ1200's that alternate on and off (3 and 3) with a wavemaker, and they are 295gph each.
So, if you do the math on that, I average somewhere around 1100gph circulation... but it definitely doesn't 'look' like it.
I have some of the powerheads pointed toward the water surface (using the supplied directors), and the rest are pointed across the tank where they contact the glass a couple times before the current washes over the reef... this makes for a large mass of water moving around, rather than the direct flow from the powerhead nozzle, and makes it look more like the ocean surge.
My tree coral sways back and forth a good 3" or so... my Goniopora sits in the middle of the tank, and sometimes gets blown around pretty good as cross-currents collide, but not enough to make it close up.
My sandbed stays put though... I don't have any problem with 'jetwash' blowing it around.
I've never heard of current causing hair algae... it's usually the build-up of phosphates (like fish poo) that causes hair algae blooms.
HTH
While our tanks may seem like 'high' flow, I don't think there's any way we could come close to the water movement in the ocean without knocking our tanks off their stand.
In my tank for instance (a 55g) I have a Mag5 return pushing about a 6' head, so it's running at about the 300gph level through the sump.
I also have 6 MJ1200's that alternate on and off (3 and 3) with a wavemaker, and they are 295gph each.
So, if you do the math on that, I average somewhere around 1100gph circulation... but it definitely doesn't 'look' like it.
I have some of the powerheads pointed toward the water surface (using the supplied directors), and the rest are pointed across the tank where they contact the glass a couple times before the current washes over the reef... this makes for a large mass of water moving around, rather than the direct flow from the powerhead nozzle, and makes it look more like the ocean surge.
My tree coral sways back and forth a good 3" or so... my Goniopora sits in the middle of the tank, and sometimes gets blown around pretty good as cross-currents collide, but not enough to make it close up.
My sandbed stays put though... I don't have any problem with 'jetwash' blowing it around.
I've never heard of current causing hair algae... it's usually the build-up of phosphates (like fish poo) that causes hair algae blooms.
HTH
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