too much flow?

T

toaster77

Premium Member
hi, i'm relatively new to the hobby (several months) and have enjoyed reading all the informative posts here. i am a biochemist and have found reefkeeping to be very fun and appropriate so far javascript:emoticon(':)')

i have a simple question - is there such a thing as having too much flow? i recently added a maxijet 900 to my 46 gallon bowfront to increase flow (my original setup just has a simple return flow through a reservoir in the back) for my corals, but now there appears to be enough of a current that my fish sometimes get swept a few inches by the current if they find themselves idle in certain areas. is this ok for the fish? - i don't want them to be too stressed out or have to expend too much energy, though i suppose this is normal as they usually must deal with ocean currents. also do people turn off pumps at night, so that the fish may sleep more peacefully?

thanks!
 
I don't know about the Maxijet 900 being too much flow in the tank, but on both of my tanks... I use a wavemaker and it controls the amount of time a certain one is on.... There are some inexpensive ones out there.. it's up to your budget...

My 100g has 3 Maxijet 1200's on a wavemaker.. and they do just fine...

My 200g also has 3 maxijet 1200's on the same set up... Thinking about adding more... just haven't decided since that is a FOWLR.
 
You can't have to much flow unless, if the flow is ripping the skin of corals, messing with the sandbed, or even spalshing over the sides of the tank.
 
Well theoretically you can have to much flow for certain types of fish or coral but your nowhere near it. Been diving? The fish are used to a pretty chaotic flow environment.
 
well 3 days after i increased the flow by installing the mexijet, my coral beauty angel mysteriously died, and some of my fish now seem to be getting ick :( :(

perhaps i do have a little too much flow which is stressing them out?
will increasing the flow toss around the ick parasites and help them spread more easily?

sigh, i guess it's sometimes best no to tinker with things too much...





@toaster77 wrote:
 
Believe me the flow has nothing to do with this one.

Sounds like it was diseased. What are your parameters (salinity, alkalinity, calcium, ammonia, nitrates, etc.)

Do a search for Ich treatments on here as there is tons of useful info!
 
thanks for the advice. yeah, it's hard to believe it'd be due to the flow - probably just coincidental. any history of coral beauties being hard to keep in captivity? WetWebMedia ranks them a (2) - meaning there's a mortality rate of >50% between 1-3 months. i've had mine for about 6 weeks, seemed to be fine all along...

water parameters seem fine -
SG 1.022
Calcium 380
Alkalinity 10.5 KH
Nitrates <10 ppm




@kwl1763 wrote:
 
Freshwater dips are very helpful, especially since it's in a reef, IF you can catch them, obviously. One of my Ocellaris anenomefish had a bad fungal infection but after three or four days of doing dips (twice a day) he got over it fine. Also there is no danger of introducing any chemicals into your tank that way.

I would just put the fish in freshwater for eight or nine minutes and then put back in the reef. I did it once in the morning and once again in the evening. Just make sure to closely watch the fish in treatment for signs of stress. The biggest factor with this method is, obviously, catching the fish. Hope that helps.
 
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