Radion and MP 40's

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Why would you want your pumps to go into night mode? Most corals feed at night, wouldn't it be beneficial to have particular floating around at night?

Ocean surface are generally calmer at night due to weather calming. This is generally ONLY the surface in my experience. Shallow or low flow areas of the ocean generally are low flow all the time, high flow areas are generally high flow all the time after you get beyond the top few feet of water.

High flow makes it more difficult for corals to catch food. They feed much better in moderate flow when their polyps don't get misshaped and pushed around as harshly. How many of us are feeding properly at night though?

I wouldn't turn my pumps down at night. There is more respiration by animals and plants at night but no photosynthesis to replace the oxygen used. Most of the animals in our tanks do not need or benefit from low flow at any time unless maybe for a few moments to target feed.

Calcification still occurs at night (even when lights are off) and low flow slows this process down. SPS need high flow for calcification and although I doubt the growth rates at night are substantial, they do grow. Personally, I will take growth of any amount, anytime.

I will attempt to explain this as well (but I am not a scientist)...essentially there is water that sticks to corals and creates a layer around them. This layer of water becomes very low in oxygen. This layer is thicker in low flow and thinner in high flow. Because this layer essentially can suffocate corals, high flow is generally going to benefit them at any time.

Not to mention, our tanks are pretty low flow already if comparing to the ocean.

Just my opinion but I don't see any benefits especially when you start to factor in the significantly lower oxygen levels. May depend on what is in your system, too many variables to say but based on the typical mixed reef with some SPS, probably better to keep everything going 24/7.

EDIT: If you have ever been on night dives, you know that below the surface it is not "calm" at night. It's about the same as daytime.