Do I have enough water flow

[DLANDINO]

I have a 46 gallon bow front setup. Currently for flow I have 2 maxijet 900's on either side of the tank pointing across the bow in the front of the glass at each other. They are on a wave maker that changes direction every 5 minutes. I also have a marineland Penguin 350 filter running to polish the water. Is this enough water flow for a reef setup or will I require more? I intend to keep softies, LPS, Zoa's and mushrooms. Thanks!

[finfan4u]

I would suspect so, get a few more opinions.

[BigRedSpecial]

I highly doubt it... I have a MJ900 and two hang on back's(250gph between the two)... on a 10 gallon tank. You're looking at essentially twice the flow, but on a tank 4.6 times as large.

Now if you modded those MJ's, you'd be in good shape.

[Michael]

yeah i recon it is enough, 2 phs and a return flow for a 46 gallon seems ok

[BigRedSpecial]

He doesn't have a return; just the two MJ's and a penguin. That's 2 X 230gph, plus 350 for the hob; at most he's looking at 17.6x turnover/hour.

You could get by I guess, but I wouldn't try SPS.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Good enough for the corals you're keeping, but if you start to have algae or nitrate problems, I know why :)

[nikonosis]

I have about 2900gph going through our 45g tech tank and im thinking about adding another tunze nano stream.

[DLANDINO]

Lobster, I have a Nitrate level of 40 pn my test kit. What is the association and will more flow help lower the nitrates? Please advise and thank all for helping.

Dave

[demonsp]

This isnt the water flow you want. You need a good constant current thruout the whole tank. LR and LS will convert nitrate into harmless nitrogen but if flows wrong then it only collects it. Then you will get excess uneatin food , fish waste and other debris collecting on the bottom and will also cause nitrate.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/startinganaquarium/tp/topmistakes.htm

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature/view

http://netclub.athiel.com/cyano/cyanos2.htm

[nikonosis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12092314#post12092314 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DLANDINO
Lobster, I have a Nitrate level of 40 pn my test kit. What is the association and will more flow help lower the nitrates? Please advise and thank all for helping.

Dave

flow keeps stuff off the bottom of the tank and keeps it in the water column for your skimmer to pull out.

[DLANDINO]

Do you guys think that I should nix the wave maker and turn both power heads on constant? Also, they currently face each other aimed at the bow in the aquarium glass. IS this good positioning? Or, should I simply add another 1 or 2 power heads?

[demonsp]

The amount of flow that tanks need really matters on amount of LR and LS and stock and age. I think its better to have more flow while tank matures and untill you understand its importance.

The thing with flow is its effects take time in most cases like months or yrs and by that time its hard for people to believe its the cause or dont even factor it in so they go out and but some additive or reactor and then still wonder why they cant get it under control. I see so many threads just on this. You need to understand the basic setup and learn to control the water by this method. Without the basic understanding and useing additives and buying this and that only confuses and frustrates you more.

[sdheath]

Yeah, ditch the wavemaker. You'll double your flow and everything will be happier. I think they're good facing each other as long as they're not too close.

[DLANDINO]

thanks Lance and all. I am slowly but surely learning. Best!
Dave

[annewayne]

You could mod the 900's it would help a little.

[demonsp]

Placement just as important. Try one on the left side facing center front glass from low to mid and one on the right faceing front center glass offset from the other. Flow going down then up keeps debris from collecting. A good way to tell is add extra frozen food and whene you add it whatch how it flows,you want it to stay suspended and not just drop to the bottom.

[DLANDINO]

I am going to try this tomorrow during water change time. The food suspension test has me intrigued.

[monty]

put a sureflow mod on one of them...then, keep it on the wavemaker if you want

[LobsterOfJustice]

I wouldnt go through all this trouble for softies honestly, they dont mind a dirtier tank. But increasing the flow will help nitrates by keeping waste like poop and detritus, as well as uneaten food, suspended so it can be filtered out rather than rotting in the back of your tank. My personal rule is to have enough flow that NOTHING settles in the tank, but I'm also keeping a lot of SPS. I question wether its worth the trouble for the corals your keeping though.

[demonsp]

Your LR and LS will convert ammonia and nitrate into harmless nitrogen but only if theres enough flow.Then algea like green hair and red slime cant grow well if flow is proper then what lobster said.

[Michael]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12091674#post12091674 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BigRedSpecial
He doesn't have a return; just the two MJ's and a penguin. That's 2 X 230gph, plus 350 for the hob; at most he's looking at 17.6x turnover/hour.

You could get by I guess, but I wouldn't try SPS.

well i think in a 46 gallon tank 17 times the tank size in flow is a pretty good start