water movement?

[gingerright]

anyone have any practical ways to tell if you have enough water movement before adding livestock that depends on it? specifically, i'm new to the invert realm, but am aiming towards keeping a bulb tentacle anenome. my tank is a 30 gal, i have 2 filter returns and a skimmer return at the surface aiming towards the front of the tank, and two powerheads midwater level aiming/facing the back of the tank's wall. how do i know if this is enough water movement before bringing my first anenome home? any advice would be greatly appreciated!:confused:

[burton14e7]

I'm no expert in nem's but add up the gph of your returns and powerheads and divide that by the volume of water in your display to get you're turn over per hour which is the normal means of discussing flow.

[gingerright]

if i add up all the gph and divide it by my water volume i get a minimum of 17. so now that i have that number, what do i do with it? forgive me for sounding stupid, i really dont understand. what does the 17 mean?:( :o :confused:

[gingerright]

also, is the 17 good or bad? where do i look to find out what numbers are good or bad for different inverts? i'm so sorry for not getting it, sometimes the simplest info seems so hard for me, especially when numbers are involved.

[Absinthe]

What is being talked about it water turnover. How many times in one hour is the water in the tank being turned over, or moved around?

A 30 gallon tank with 1 pump at 300gph has a turnover of 10 times per hour (300 divided by 30 = 10).

A 30 gallon tank with 2 pumps at 300gph each (600gph total) has a turnover of 20 times per hour (600 divided by 30 = 20).

When considering certain corals you need to be concerned about turnover and flow rates, as some species need more brisk water movement to thrive.

For the most part, fish dont need special flow requirements.

Flow that is too low can cause areas of the tank to become stagnant.

Flow that is too strong can cause corals to become irritated and some fish to have difficulty maneuvering around the tank (mostly seahorses, pipefish, etc).

A turnover rate of 15-25 times is a fairly healthy amount and is probably pretty good for most beginner corals.

Anemones are a different game...they not only require appropriate lighting but also good water quality.

An anemone has the capacity to move to areas of the tank where it gets the flow and light that it seems to like, but you need to provide it with the appropriate needs and then let it "Get comfortable."