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12 Fluval Edge Reef, How much flow?


IronChefItaly

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IronChefItaly

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm fairly new to the saltwater world and was looking for your guys' advice as to what I should do for flow in my 12 gallon fluval edge reef. Going to do my best to keep things short and sweet here.

 

Currently I have... (photo link at end)

 

- Stock aquaclear filter > from observation it really doesn't seem to do much for flow

 

- Hydor nano powerhead > 240gph

 

I've read...

 

- Low 20-30x (240 - 360gph)

 

- Medium 30-40x (360 - 480gph)

 

- High 40-100x (480 - 1200gph)

 

So it appears that I'm on the absolute minimum water movement as is and I don't believe i can place my powerhead in much better of a position.

 

Problems that I've noticed...

 

- Lots of debris, EVERYWHERE! Seriously, hitting liverock, coral or anything else in my tank with a turkey baster clouds the water for hours.

 

- My corals seem fairly still relative to other videos I've seen online

 

- Algae growth in dead spots on both coral and liverock (I am working on reducing phosphates)

 

- Having one constant, primary source of flow blows all my coral in one direction

 

Possible solutions...

 

- Add another Hydor 240 > so then I'd have 2x 240 = 480gph flow

 

- Add a Hydor 425 > 425+240 = 665

 

- Hydor wavemakers?

 

- Any others?

 

A few other considerations...

 

- How can I achieve a more chaotic flow?

 

> If I run two opposing powerheads can I place them on timers to achieve this?

 

- If I buy some equipment and it adds too much flow, is it easy enough to just aim it at the glass or surface to take away some of that energy?

 

- Need to stay under $100, not against buying used

 

Wow that was a lot longer than I expected but I wanted to provide enough information =P Thanks everyone for reading and I look forward to your responses!

 

http://imgur.com/WNpOCXX

 

^^^ this is my tank here, it has an average of about 1.5 inches from the glass all the way around. Powerhead is currently positioned in the very top right of the back and is pointing towards the center of the front.

 

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- Stock aquaclear filter > from observation it really doesn't seem to do much for flow

What exactly does this stock filter consist of, and what are you trying to filter? There is far more to filtration in a reef than just using what a manufacture labels as a "Filter" If this thing has filter floss in it and thats all then it sounds like your trying to collect detritus.

 

- Hydor nano powerhead > 240gph

What type of Corals are you trying to grow? Softies, LPS? This should be fine, though the Hydor Nano 450 wouldn't hurt either

 

- Lots of debris, EVERYWHERE! Seriously, hitting liverock, coral or anything else in my tank with a turkey baster clouds the water for hours.

yup! This is a common problem with all nano tanks, worst of all the phosphates will build up over time and nasty things like cyano and Dinos will come invited, and fighting Dinos in a tank like that... All I can say is good luck! I would suggest using the turkey baster and some sort of stick to stir up all the crap in a giant flurry then using a vacuum or siphon suck it out of there on your water changes rather than letting it settle back down.

 

- How can I achieve a more chaotic flow?

- If its possible to change the Stock filter pump, you obviously need to change that with something more powerful

- Want chaotic? get a Vortech Mp10 put it on the 4th or 5th mark for your size of tank and put in reef crest mode.

- or save money on the MP10 purchase a Hydor nano 450

 

If this were my tank I would do the following suggestions for flow, and noticing allot of crap everywhere if Phosphates were up I would tone down on feeding and get a shrimp and some more snails to help with the cleanup. If doing all that still yielded issues with detritus everywhere I would consider the tank design to be the issue and from there I would just go bare bottom vacuuming everything in site weekly.

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IronChefItaly

- Stock aquaclear filter > from observation it really doesn't seem to do much for flow

What exactly does this stock filter consist of, and what are you trying to filter? There is far more to filtration in a reef than just using what a manufacture labels as a "Filter" If this thing has filter floss in it and thats all then it sounds like your trying to collect detritus.

 

- Hydor nano powerhead > 240gph

What type of Corals are you trying to grow? Softies, LPS? This should be fine, though the Hydor Nano 450 wouldn't hurt either

 

- Lots of debris, EVERYWHERE! Seriously, hitting liverock, coral or anything else in my tank with a turkey baster clouds the water for hours.

yup! This is a common problem with all nano tanks, worst of all the phosphates will build up over time and nasty things like cyano and Dinos will come invited, and fighting Dinos in a tank like that... All I can say is good luck! I would suggest using the turkey baster and some sort of stick to stir up all the crap in a giant flurry then using a vacuum or siphon suck it out of there on your water changes rather than letting it settle back down.

 

- How can I achieve a more chaotic flow?

- If its possible to change the Stock filter pump, you obviously need to change that with something more powerful

- Want chaotic? get a Vortech Mp10 put it on the 4th or 5th mark for your size of tank and put in reef crest mode.

- or save money on the MP10 purchase a Hydor nano 450

 

If this were my tank I would do the following suggestions for flow, and noticing allot of crap everywhere if Phosphates were up I would tone down on feeding and get a shrimp and some more snails to help with the cleanup. If doing all that still yielded issues with detritus everywhere I would consider the tank design to be the issue and from there I would just go bare bottom vacuuming everything in site weekly.

 

Thanks for your replay Exodus!

 

- Stock aquaclear filter > from observation it really doesn't seem to do much for flow

Currently it's filled with a course sponge and a heap of filter floss. I wash / change this out twice a week to avoid nitrates. Planning to also place a bag of Chemipure-elite in there to help with the phosphates from my tap water but my LFS are out of stock at the moment.

 

 

- Hydor nano powerhead > 240gph

None of the corals I have are very demanding, they've been through the worst already.

 

- Lots of debris, EVERYWHERE! Seriously, hitting liverock, coral or anything else in my tank with a turkey baster clouds the water for hours.

I've been at war with cyano for a while now but it never really gets out of control. Turkey baster and water changes is my weekly routine; ~15-25% depending on how dirty the tank is but I'm a bit concerned lately that I'm bringing in phosphates from my tap water. I really don't want to go out and buy a RO/DI kit and I know of others who make tap water work for themselves.

 

- How can I achieve a more chaotic flow?

- I've thought about upgrading to a canister filter like the fluval 206 but I've kept the HOB because it's easy to visually monitor and perform maintenance. I'm by no means an expert but I think the HOB is adequate and would be far more efficient if I brought about enough flow to keep the detritus from settling / in suspension.

- I have looked at the MP10s but seeing as one would cost nearly the full amount that I have invested into my entire setup it doesn't really make much sense

- Right now I'm leaning towards the Hydor 450

 

I think you're bang on. I picked the tank up from a guy who had long given up on it so I knew it was going to be a challenge from the start but for the month that I've had it there seems to be good progress. For inverts, I have nothing but 3 astrea snails and a Nassarius that I picked up a week ago so my feedings are pretty minimal.

 

If anyone else has any input I'd love to hear it. From what I've heard and read so far I think I'll be getting an additional hydor 425.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stop using tap water. Do you have a grocery store close that has a fill your own water container station? That would be better than tap water if you are not buying Rodi water somewhere.

 

I have the 6g edge, without an additional powerhead, only using the aquaclear 30 on medium flow, and I don't don't get buildup,and have decent flow throughout the Tank.

 

How high is you powerhead placed in the Tank? A picture might help.

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