water flow

[reefsahoy]

does water flow contribute to coloration of sps corals? how much water flow should i be looking for in a 80 gal tank. i have a return pump of 1600 gals/hr from my sump and just wondering if i need more movement?

[murphreef]

i duno if it has to do with coloration as much as overall health.... sps need lots of water flow to gather the necessary elemnts to live and grow off of....

in an 80 gallon tank id say u need a minimum of 2000gph of turnover in the tank if not more prefferably and having it make a random flow would be best either with sea swirls on the returns or a closed loop running an oceans motion product or even powerheads placed to create turbulent water

good luck

[clkwrk]

IMO yes it does because that water flow brings more food to them . There has even been a series of article talking about how flow is actually more important than light.

I am a firm believer of high flow . See sig to see the flow on my 180 it tops out at 141x all full bore.

[murphreef]

hey clkwrk do u really ever have it turned up to 141x's or is that if all the tunzee's were at 100% cuz i know usually the tunzee's are pulsating and switching from one to the other for tidal action...

i just cant see 141x's in a tank and the water actually staying in the tank.....

i have 40x's in my 180 using my return pump my closed loop running a sequence dart on an OM 4 way and a seio 1500 and another 820 and thats alot of flow in my tank with no dead spots and im just interested to know if u really ever have it up 100%

[clkwrk]

No I get around 117 most times and thats a quick interval @100 each channel. But in certain modes I get it all .

[murphreef]

wow i just dont see how thats possible... thats way cool though ....

if i added anymore my sand would be permantely suspeneded in my water column lol

[clkwrk]

I have no sand ;)

[clkwrk]

Here is a pic before I added a wave box

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/o2manytnks/180/180-may-6th-a.jpg

and another
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/o2manytnks/180/180-equip-9.jpg

[Cody Ray]

I think u could probably squeeze one more tunze in ;)