How much water movement?

[selch]

While searching the site I've seen it recommended that you have a water flow thats 7 to 10x your volume of water. With that in mind, for my new (and first) set up I was looking at getting the Dolphin DP-115 (115 gph) for my 12g.

 

However, I've seen a lot of people on the site use a MJ600 for their 10gals, which is 160 gph. That seemed like a lot to me.

 

Is the idea to give your tank as much flow as possible without creating a sandstorm? And if it is, I'm guessing that you just experiment from there.

 

Thoughts on this?

 

thanks,

selch

[p@ndor@]

I'm certainly no expert by any means (finally setup my first saltwater tank ever), but after reading a lot of thinking about it, I decided I wanted a lot of flow in my 10gal. I am using a MaxiJet 600 as well as a modded AC500 refugium with the surface skimmer attachment (slows down the flow a lot!).

 

I have really great flow, but not a "sandstorm". I, personally, believe that great flow is important - it pushes water through your rock better (filtration) and creates those random flows that exist in nature. None of my current inhabitants (cleaning crew for now, hehe) seem to be bothered by the flow I've created.

 

So, I guess it is largely up to personal preference (and avoiding a sandstorm), but in my opinion, the more flow the better.

[fishy610]

Selch, very good question and a very underestimated aspect in reefing, as far as I am concerned. Some of the people in here swear by vornardo'ing their tank (the more gph, the better). I always disliked the idea, but nevertheless played around with different powerheads on my tank - just out of curiosity.

 

I found that about 10x turnaround will be just fine. At one point, I more than doubled the water flow to about 250gph and my poor clowns got all confused, disoriented, tumbled around and couldn't really keep up with the current. They ended up hiding in a low flow are in the back of the tank for days. Also the mushrooms on the bottom got WAY to much flow and disliked my change as well. My Xenia got tossed around like crazy and I was almost afraid it would get ripped off the rock.

 

You want more water flow to prevent detirius from settling on the bottom or live rock, but you want less flow to keep all your inhabitants happy.

 

It's not an easy decision, but to make a long story short: I felt very sorry for my inhabitants with the increased flow (it was really a pityful sight) and switched back. My personal rule of thumb would be 10x turnaround per hour, but, of course, that depends on your aquascaping, inhabitants and personal preference.

[selch]

That's for the input guys. I think I'm going to go with the Dolphin DP-115. 115gph. That would be about 9.5x flow for my 12gal.

 

Anyone have any input as to the quality of the Dolphin pumps?

[Bikelock]

flow depends on what you are going to keep.

 

In general, meep in mind in general, there are always exceptions to the rule.

 

Softies low

LPS moderate

SPS High

[Chyendra]

wow.... If the skilter 250 pumps 250gph.... then I have WAY more flow then the 10x turnaround.... I have a skilter250 and a small powerhead in my 5 gallon... All my corals seem fine

[fishy610]

As I said, it really depends on your setup and aquascaping. More flow can be beneficial, but not always. As long as all your inhabitants are fine there's nothing to worry about.