Too much flow for sps?

[Son Of Skyline]

I've just finished converting my 27gal to a full sps tank, starting with frags and a single mother colony. How much water flow is too much? How bad is it to have an acro directly in the flow of a powerhead? I seem to be having trouble getting good even flow without directly pointing the powerheads at certain corals. Any suggestions on how to go abouts creating good water flow? Thanks!

[Dez]

How many gph is the powerhead you have on there now? What you can do is ask all those people who got the free powerheads from the IO salt to see if they would give those away (they come free with the salt anyway), and instead of have 1 or 2 powerheads, have 3 or 4 mini ones....that will spread out your flow. Then you can hide them behind the rockwork as well... I'm no expert, but it's just a thought...

desmond

[Delphinus]

With SPS, you can't have enough flow. Espescially with things like table acros ... you need an immense turnover.

I generally wouldn't recommend deliberately pointing a PH at a coral. That said, one of my acros has grown part of itself into the direct path of one of my PH's. The growth pattern in this spot is very neat, actually. But in this case, it's important to note that the coral chose the current, not me. So mileage may vary depending on the coral!

Dez's idea is good, in a small tank you may be better off going with a number of smaller PH's.

My personal favourite scenario is still two PH's, laterally opposed, at opposite sides of the tank.

[ 07 May 2002, 13:52: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[Son Of Skyline]

Originally posted by delphinus:
With SPS, you can't have enough flow. Espescially with things like table acros ... you need an immense turnover.

Dez's idea is good, in a small tank you may be better off going with a number of smaller PH's.

My personal favourite scenario is still two PH's, laterally opposed, at opposite sides of the tank.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks for the info guys. When you say laterally opposed, do you mean 2 PH's on each side of the tank pointed straight at each other and blowing directly against each other?

[Delphinus]

Yup [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Son Of Skyline]

Originally posted by delphinus:
Yup [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks! I'll give that a try and see what happens.

[DJ88]

Mason,

IMO it comes down to the more the better. Circulation is a good thing.

One caveat.

Don't place a SPS directly in front of a PH. Unless it decides it will grow that and is used to the power of the direct blast you will more than likely harm the coral.