Is there such a thing as too much flow?

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ThaneF

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Ok, I have a Red Sea Max 103d tank (supposed to be 130 Liters) and it has 2x 550L "return" pumps. So that's a total of 1100L per hour.
I have been looking at the flow and I would like to add another power head into the tank, would a 1000L per hour power head b e too much (so that'll be a total of 2000L per hour in a 130L tank).
I don't want to have any of my future fish doing tumble turns around the tank :rofl: or not been able to keep corals because I have too much flow. I want to put a wave deflector onto it so the current will be changing all the time and there will be loss bue to the device. Any comments are welcome.
Thanks
Regards
Thane
 
For a 130 ltr tank you should have something between 7000 and 15000 l/ph flow, depending on your inmates requirements.
I would suggest you make it regarding the requirements of the corals you want to keep.
Fish does not need flow at all.
Two pumps with each 7500 l/ph would be good. The one can run 24/7 and the other one for 3 hours on and 2 hours off. And so on.
But the settings and flow has to be according to the inmates needs.
 
ThaneF said:
Ok, I have a Red Sea Max 103d tank (supposed to be 130 Liters) and it has 2x 550L "return" pumps. So that's a total of 1100L per hour.
I have been looking at the flow and I would like to add another power head into the tank, would a 1000L per hour power head b e too much (so that'll be a total of 2000L per hour in a 130L tank).
I don't want to have any of my future fish doing tumble turns around the tank :rofl: or not been able to keep corals because I have too much flow. I want to put a wave deflector onto it so the current will be changing all the time and there will be loss bue to the device. Any comments are welcome.
Thanks
Regards
Thane
Click to expand...

when you substrate starts to lift up then you have to much flow:) 1100lph is fine for your return flow.

for inside your tank id say you will need ALTEAST 5000lph. however this flow must not come from one point and must not be high speed laminar(linear) flow like from a normal pump. you need wide dispersed flow from at least 2 points in your tank. general rule of thumb is about 40 times your tanks volume for internal flow.

this is to make sure that no detritus settles on and behind your rocks. depending on what corals you would like to keep, you may need even more flow. what is your plan for corals?

in my 120l nano i had a seio 320 and a seio 530.
 
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if you drop something in your tank, it should move sevento eight cm in one second. then you know your flow is correct(minimum)
 
ok, i need A LOT more then.
Coral wise, I would liek to get all of it - softies, LSP, SPS but that'll take a long time to get there. Going to be starting with frags and see how that goes... but first things first, get some current on... now to find space in the tank ;)
 
ThaneF said:
ok, i need A LOT more then.
Coral wise, I would liek to get all of it - softies, LSP, SPS but that'll take a long time to get there. Going to be starting with frags and see how that goes... but first things first, get some current on... now to find space in the tank ;)
Click to expand...

if you want lps and sps together it becomes a bit a problem as lps need flow but not to much else they close up so they dont get damaged but sps need alot more flow. what you might find when you add your powerheads is that there will be "deadspots" with low flow. you can use these deadspots to keep your lps and put your sps in the high flow area's. you may have to play around with the positioning of your pumps and rocks to create these deadspots.
 
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