Flow question

How do I know if I have enough flow or too much?

 

You want enough flow to keep detritus suspended in the water column. You really cant have too much flow as long as your corals still stay open/extended. If they start to hide during light hours you may have too much flow.

 

you have two k2s correct?

 

If your sand bed isn't getting moved, you should add some! JK JK JK. I really like a ton of flow in my tank but it is an sps tank so my acros and montis love it. I do know one thing though, I had to dig long and hard to find a spot where my elegance coral is happy.

 

Two topics come to mind here – GPH and flow.

Rule of thumb on the GPH is to turn the tank volume somewhere around 8-10 per hour. Right there you should be getting some decent flow. You certainly want to ensure you have no dead spots, from there I suggest you have some area’s with higher flow than others as you will indeed have corals that prefer strong, others moderate water flow.

It’s not unlike your lighting, some corals are going to want to be up closer to the light and others down on the sand. With that in mind you wouldn’t want to make your tank a self-contained tsunami or as current-less as a glass of water. There’s a happy medium that you need to discover on your own.

I always air towards more current, and then use aqua-scaping if I need to protect a more delicate coral from being blasted – but that’s just me.

 

Yea Phil...2 K2's and seems like a lot. I'm sooo glad I didnt go with 2 K3's lol. I'm not sure what to do. I will keep monitoring my corals and see what THEY want me to do as suggested. Thx!

 

I hadn’t read your sig line – K2’s are pushing 600 GPH each right? In a 39 – that would be a turn over of 30. I use 3 VorTech 40’s at 3,000 GPH each plus my filtration return. Mathematically just the MP40’s push 9,000 GPH in a 180 would be 50x compared to your 30x. But in a reef with 300 pounds of LR plus a wave set up – it’s not like it sounds. If you are worried remove one –

I have my MP40’s below the rock level with only one exposed to cause true tank circulation – the other two are deflected by rocks to ensure no dead places inside the reef. I think if I had them all exposed above the rock it would be too much.