dead spots

[Statman]

ive been reading that if you dont have enought water movement you will get dead spots in your tank, can someone post of picture of what this looks like please?

 

[cav]

I dont think you will get a picture of a dead spot. It basically means somewhere where there is little or no water movement, a place where stuff like food or detrius can build up as its not getting moved away by the flow

 

[Statman]

i just wanted to know what to look for to make sure i dont have any. this is my first salt water tank so i dont wanna mess it up ;d

 

[wantvws]

How big is your tank and what do you have for circulation?
In my tank the flow problems I had showed up in the form of cyanobacteria. The cyano was much worse in areas of low flow (dead center of the tank and the corners) and it disappeared as soon as I increased it. I still think I am lacking sufficient flow in the center of the tank as the substrate is much "dirtier" there.
Hope this helps.
Robbie

 

[Statman]

my tank is 10 gallons and im not sure what i have for a powerhead without going up and looking. i also have a hang on back filter that is pushin some water around too.

 

[dilbert]

I have two powerheads. One reason is that one of them might stop working suddenly and the other reason is that it more powerful as they have only 480 liters/hour in a 60 liters (15 gallons) tank.

Depending on what someone got in his/her tank the flow, e.g. liters per hours, should be ten to twenty times the tank capacity.

On the other side, I got also a dead spot and the only inmate still (only 1 week up and running), a peanut worm, simply loves it and sits there waiting for detritus accumulating there.

 

[tamableanimal]

I currently run 52 times turn over in my tank and sometimes think that I still am not there. You can never have to much flow. But not enough creates areas where nuisance algea and cyanobacteria can grow because of excessive buildup of waste. Sometimes you will see the build up of food particles and waste material either in the sand bed or on the rocks. Other than that you will start seeing cyano or algeas growing. When you feed your tank you may be able to see where the food just drops straight down. That would be a low flow area.

 

[Grins]

One of the mods here uses a trick with milk to find deadspots. He turns off all flow and then adds a few drops of milk to the tank and then restarts the flow. The milk will swirl in the current. Anywhere without milk swirling means no current which means you have a deadspot.