too strong current from overflow?

[Spar]

put in a couple chromis as the first fish in my tank. first thing i noticed is that the smallest of the chromis seemed to be struggling in the beginning from getting sucked into the overflow. none got sucked in over night, so at least that is a good sign. the holes are just barely big enough for the chromis to fit through, so I wouldn't have to worry about this on the larger fish in the future.

the other problem is that snails are fitting through the holes and I can see that a couple got sucked down into the piping.

any advice on how to combat these 2 issues? I was thinking about placing a sponge filter pad over the top 1/2" of the overflow (would cover the big gaps that the fish/snails could fit through). but if there are any disadvantages of this don't want to do it.

 

[Spar]

thanks for the eggcrate idea. I have a bunch at my house already and will make a little snail-safe barrier after work. good point about big snails making their way in there.

"struggling" may not have been the correct word for the fish's actions that I said earlier. he just immediately went up next to the over-flow and hung out for a while. swimming against the current in the mean-time. there were a couple sleeping up near it last night behind a piece of live rock without having any trouble, so can't be too bad.

thanks again!

 

[Ashlar]

Cliff, my littlest chromis used to sleep between my hang on overflow and the back of the tank.. which led to him getting sucked into the overflow a couple of times. Now, it's just 'his' spot.. he'll hang out there and seems to enjoy the current. Chromis.. gotta love em.

 

[tradosz]

Another option to the eggcrate is a white plastic screening material that HD has. I used it on the dual returns of our 215. I cut material to fit over openings, turned off return pump, which lowered water level enough to mount. After throughly drying the area around the openings, I attached using aquarium silicone, which allows you to remove later if you so desire. Note that I originaly covered the openings completelty, which does restrict the flow, and if you are using Dursos, will result in somewhat more water going into refugium, if you're using a refugium.. As an after thought, I did take a single edge razor blade and trimmed a portion of the upper prtion of the screen, which allowed water to flow somewhat faster into the sump, but still kept any critters and fish from going through. Part of the reason for restricted flow was due to the coraline building up on screen. Another solution to the restricted water flow might be to take the screeening and cut out every other opening using a small pair of scissors. You're making opening larger, but still small enough for the results you want. Hope this makes sense.