Barebottom SPS tank with some softies.. flow troubles

crichard6069 · 08/15/2008, 06:01 AM

Hi all - I've got 75g BB that I'm planning on being fairly SPS dominant.. with that said, I do have some softies in it and I'm a little worried about the flow. For softies I have:

Open brain
Yellow Polyps
Star mat
Frogspawn
Colt coral

The trouble is when I get all of my pumps going to keep the barebottom clean, but softies get knocked around a bit, my brain coral tends to get an awful lot of flow (to the point where i've even had it start to tip over and slide across the bottom), etc..

I've had to shut off my MJ 1200 (modded with a sureflow 1600) and things seem a bit better but I'm collecting some junk at the bottom now...

For flow I have:
2 Koralia 4's
Mj 900 (not modded)
Mj 1200 (sure flow 1600, but I've had this powered off for a week now)
Mag 18 returning flow from my basement sump, should be ~500 GPH at the tank

Any thoughts on those softies with that kind of flow? Any suggestions on it? I've been fiddling with these pumps for weeks now and it's a double edged sword.. I can't find any low flow areas, which is actually good for SPS.. but not so good for my softies...

Thanks...

crvz · 08/15/2008, 07:27 AM

Yep, don't really have any great suggestions. Like you pointed out, you either kill some of the flow and potentially frustrate the stony corals, or you leave it alone and irritate softies. I have pillars in my tank, so I can stick coral behind some of the pillars when they're getting too much flow. But if you don't have any blocked areas like that, the only real choice is to back down some of the flow.

crichard6069 · 08/15/2008, 07:37 AM

hmmm without the sureflow-1600 I'm turning over about 41x my tank.... I suppose thats still pretty decent... when I get those extra 1600gph from the sureflow it brings me up to 62x... I guess the 41x still isn't all that horrid for a BB... 62x is nice, but is that much truly needed?

mdrc · 08/15/2008, 12:53 PM

imo keeping the crud from settling is worth tradeing in the softies, if you let that crud settle then you run the risk of pollution and could end up killing all your SPS. what i would do is trade in the softies at a LFS or to a fellow reefer

Jflip2002 · 08/15/2008, 01:00 PM

Yeah, Id trade the softies in. I was in the same position with my beautiful nice open brain. It took on too much flow and never opened once I went BB.... It ended up dying.

crvz · 08/15/2008, 02:17 PM

there's no magic number. 40 or 60, as long as you're keeping stuff suspended your fine.

08/15/2008, 06:01 AM	#1
crichard6069 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Western Massachusetts Posts: 591	Barebottom SPS tank with some softies.. flow troubles Hi all - I've got 75g BB that I'm planning on being fairly SPS dominant.. with that said, I do have some softies in it and I'm a little worried about the flow. For softies I have: Open brain Yellow Polyps Star mat Frogspawn Colt coral The trouble is when I get all of my pumps going to keep the barebottom clean, but softies get knocked around a bit, my brain coral tends to get an awful lot of flow (to the point where i've even had it start to tip over and slide across the bottom), etc.. I've had to shut off my MJ 1200 (modded with a sureflow 1600) and things seem a bit better but I'm collecting some junk at the bottom now... For flow I have: 2 Koralia 4's Mj 900 (not modded) Mj 1200 (sure flow 1600, but I've had this powered off for a week now) Mag 18 returning flow from my basement sump, should be ~500 GPH at the tank Any thoughts on those softies with that kind of flow? Any suggestions on it? I've been fiddling with these pumps for weeks now and it's a double edged sword.. I can't find any low flow areas, which is actually good for SPS.. but not so good for my softies... Thanks...

08/15/2008, 07:27 AM	#2
crvz Team RC Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: houstonia Posts: 7,989	Yep, don't really have any great suggestions. Like you pointed out, you either kill some of the flow and potentially frustrate the stony corals, or you leave it alone and irritate softies. I have pillars in my tank, so I can stick coral behind some of the pillars when they're getting too much flow. But if you don't have any blocked areas like that, the only real choice is to back down some of the flow. __________________ -Chris- You don't win friends with salad. "Look! They're trying to learn for free!" ... "Use your phony guns as clubs!" Current Tank Info: rectangluar? wet?

08/15/2008, 12:53 PM	#4
mdrc Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Dallas Texas Posts: 369	imo keeping the crud from settling is worth tradeing in the softies, if you let that crud settle then you run the risk of pollution and could end up killing all your SPS. what i would do is trade in the softies at a LFS or to a fellow reefer __________________ Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad Chris Current Tank Info: a sps tank in the works

08/15/2008, 01:00 PM	#5
Jflip2002 Eagles & Tigers Fan Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,543	Yeah, Id trade the softies in. I was in the same position with my beautiful nice open brain. It took on too much flow and never opened once I went BB.... It ended up dying. __________________ I hate cheap powerheads. Current Tank Info: 40g Breeder

08/15/2008, 02:17 PM	#6
crvz Team RC Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: houstonia Posts: 7,989	there's no magic number. 40 or 60, as long as you're keeping stuff suspended your fine. __________________ -Chris- You don't win friends with salad. "Look! They're trying to learn for free!" ... "Use your phony guns as clubs!" Current Tank Info: rectangluar? wet?

08/15/2008, 07:37 AM	#3
crichard6069 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Western Massachusetts Posts: 591	hmmm without the sureflow-1600 I'm turning over about 41x my tank.... I suppose thats still pretty decent... when I get those extra 1600gph from the sureflow it brings me up to 62x... I guess the 41x still isn't all that horrid for a BB... 62x is nice, but is that much truly needed?