Too Much Flow

jmeltzer

AC Members
Aug 1, 2007
97
0
0
Pomona, NY
Attached is a FTS of my 90 gallon tank.
Currently for water circulation I have 2 Koralia 3s, and 1 koralia 1.
The 3 Koralias are currently running off of a Red Sea Wave Maker.
I know the flow is still short of ideal, but I have another koralia 3 on order. My plan is to put the 3 where the 2 currently is (the middle of the tank)
However, I seem to be having some flow problems right now. It seems that the flow on the right side is a bit too powerful. No mater where I point the koralia, it seems to be blowing the sand around, a little bit at a time. After a few hours, the bottom glass is visible.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking maybe building up the pile of rocks on the right side a bit to deflect some of the flow.

Thanks for the help.

Jason

My Tank 10-28-07 007.jpg
 
It is something you will have to play around with and experiment. I have much more flow in my 75 (~9500gph) and I have no problems with the sand.
 
I don't know if this translates to a marine tank, but in my 12 gallon freshwater, I had too much current from the water pump. I put some filter floss in the little Y tube that connected to the output. 2 layers in the one I pointed down to keep water circulating, and 1 layer towards the end I pointed to the surface to provide good aeration to the water.

It had the desired effect, but I don't know if driving the water through some floss is going to stress the pump too much.
 
I would put the Koralia's on the side glass....one towards the front the other towards the rear and have them facing the sides.

Also I would take them off the wave maker....I think the flow is nice and disburse enough for 24/7 use and I think I read somewhere that the on/off cycle is what kills the koralias.
 
I would put the Koralia's on the side glass....one towards the front the other towards the rear and have them facing the sides.

Also I would take them off the wave maker....I think the flow is nice and disburse enough for 24/7 use and I think I read somewhere that the on/off cycle is what kills the koralias.

I would go with that too...and leave the one on the back wall of the tank pointing as it is. This should create an uneven flow in the tank and create surface water agitation aswell...

Niko
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I have some rearranging to do tonight.
Does anyone else use a wavemaker, or do you leave your powerhead on 24/7.
My thought was to mimic the nighttime with less flow.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I have some rearranging to do tonight.
Does anyone else use a wavemaker, or do you leave your powerhead on 24/7.
My thought was to mimic the nighttime with less flow.

I leave mine on constantly (the slight exception is the Tunze 6100 stream, which pulses between stronger and lesser flow, but never on or off). I never understood where the idea of less flow at night came from. It doesn't happen at night in the ocean--it can be turbulent or calm, depending on the currents. The only thing I can think of is that people thought that fish prefer less at night or do better with less, neither of which is necessarily true. In fact, by reducing flow at night, you are providing less oxygen when the system needs it the most.
 
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