Water Circulation Advise

[bwhyit]

Here my current setup:

12g Nanocube DX

Koralia nano pump

~14 lbs of live rock (covered with life- mushrooms, small anemones, etc).

10 lbs of live sand

2 red legged crabs

2 turbo snails

2 False Percula Clown fish

 

Here's my problem.

 

When my Koralia is on, the crabs, snails, and my Clowns don’t seem very happy. The snails and crabs stay pretty much hunkered down and don't move much. The Clowns just hang around in the top corner of the aquarium in the pump return current. As soon as I turn the Koralia off the snails and crabs come alive. The clowns also come out of the corner and look much happier.

 

I've tried moving the Koralia around in several difference places and nothing changes. Fish, crabs, and snails are still unhappy.

 

My question is, do I really need the Koralia nano since the stock pump already turns out 106 gph? I feel like I need the circulation but everything seems happier with less water movement. I'm thinking maybe an adjustable pump with less flow but I'm like to see what everyone else thinks. I've also thought about setting the Koralia on a timer and only running it 2-3 hours during the afternoon.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks.

[bwhyit]

Any Nanocube 12g DX owners that want to comment? Or anyone else for that matter?

[pismo_reefer]

pics or fail.....

[dsn112]

Flow is crucial to an aquarium imo. Keeping detrititus moving and making sure there are no dead spots keeps nitrates and phosphates down.

 

Think about the ocean, the flow level changes all the time and the fish are fine. Id say you could use more flow. Those koralia nano pumps don't put out too much flow at all. I run a vortech MP10 in my cad 12g tank and my corals look great, my nitrates are super low and the only algae I grow is coraline and chaeto.

 

Id say they will get used to it. How long have they been in there?

 

My clown also seems to stay in a certain spot away from the direct flow of the powerhead, but if I come up to the tank he comes right up to me for food with no problems.

[Seiryoku]

That isn't too much flow at all, things take time to adjust to more flow though. How long have the clowns and K-nano been in the tank together?

[bwhyit]

The clowns have been in the tank for about a week now.

 

There is definitely not a problem with dead spots or flow. With the current setup (with the K-nano) I can see water movement throughout the entire tank, including corners and around the rock.

 

I guess I'll just wait it out for now. Hopefully the activity picks up over time.

 

Anyone else have this same setup? If so what's your experience?

 

Thanks.

[beeker]

on my nano-cube 12 i have a maxi jet 900 for the return and 2 koralia 1's for flow

 

IMO you can never have too much flow...fish and inverts will adjust and build muscle to deal with the flow, just make sure to feed them properly

 

my BC 29g have a maxi jet 1200 for the return and 2 korlalia 2's for flow...my clowns and inverts are fine, they took about 2 months to adjust to it but now they hover in the the flow when it used to push them around before