Flow Consulting

timocean · May 28, 2022

Dear all,

I really like this community, and have learned a lot from reading the reef2reef discussions. Thanks!

I am currently setting up my new 120g mixed reef, and am in das 15. I am a bit unhappy with the flow, and therefore asking advice. My tank has two rock piles as can be seen on the attached photo. Currently I have two flow pumps, one Tunze Turbelle 6040, and one Jebao Cross Flow Pump MCP 150. As you can see now are bot sitting on the right side of the tank (the Tunze was left before, but that resulted in a lot of sand movement). I run the Jebao pump at 100% constant flow mode, and the Tunze is not controllable.

I think the flow might be improvable due to the following reasons: sand blown away from back left (still), LPS and zoas on the ground seem to have too much flow, red monti plate on the left might have too little flow as it does not look too good (while green one looks great), SPS on the top left seem to have too little flow (at leaset the bird nest coral on the top left does not look too good).

Do you have any suggestions on how to tune my flow? Should I tune my Jebao program to sine or classic mode? Should I maybe buy an additional or different flow pump? As the tank is new, I am also open to suggestions regarding the rearrangements of the corals, such that I make better use of the flow. Any comments appreciated.

Thanks, timocean.

glb · May 28, 2022

timocean said:
Dear all,

I really like this community, and have learned a lot from reading the reef2reef discussions. Thanks!

I am currently setting up my new 120g mixed reef, and am in das 15. I am a bit unhappy with the flow, and therefore asking advice. My tank has two rock piles as can be seen on the attached photo. Currently I have two flow pumps, one Tunze Turbelle 6040, and one Jebao Cross Flow Pump MCP 150. As you can see now are bot sitting on the right side of the tank (the Tunze was left before, but that resulted in a lot of sand movement). I run the Jebao pump at 100% constant flow mode, and the Tunze is not controllable.

I think the flow might be improvable due to the following reasons: sand blown away from back left (still), LPS and zoas on the ground seem to have too much flow, red monti plate on the left might have too little flow as it does not look too good (while green one looks great), SPS on the top left seem to have too little flow (at leaset the bird nest coral on the top left does not look too good).

Do you have any suggestions on how to tune my flow? Should I tune my Jebao program to sine or classic mode? Should I maybe buy an additional or different flow pump? As the tank is new, I am also open to suggestions regarding the rearrangements of the corals, such that I make better use of the flow. Any comments appreciated.

Thanks, timocean.

My tank is only 40g, but I put an icecap gyre on it and the flow is great. There’s lots of ways to customize the flow, and two on a tank your size might work. Good luck!

Speaker · May 28, 2022

I would try the tunze blowing across the back of the rock work. As far as not enough flow for the sps you may need another pump on the left side blowing across the top of your rock work. You could also try the gyre in the back upper corner in a verticle orinetation. Works well on my 40gal tall. My 6ft 200gal has two mp40s in the front and 2 jabo controlable pumps in the back. Check out some pictures to get ideas where to put pumps. Unfortunately its mostly trial and error.

Dburr1014 · May 28, 2022

timocean said:
Dear all,

I really like this community, and have learned a lot from reading the reef2reef discussions. Thanks!

I am currently setting up my new 120g mixed reef, and am in das 15. I am a bit unhappy with the flow, and therefore asking advice. My tank has two rock piles as can be seen on the attached photo. Currently I have two flow pumps, one Tunze Turbelle 6040, and one Jebao Cross Flow Pump MCP 150. As you can see now are bot sitting on the right side of the tank (the Tunze was left before, but that resulted in a lot of sand movement). I run the Jebao pump at 100% constant flow mode, and the Tunze is not controllable.

I think the flow might be improvable due to the following reasons: sand blown away from back left (still), LPS and zoas on the ground seem to have too much flow, red monti plate on the left might have too little flow as it does not look too good (while green one looks great), SPS on the top left seem to have too little flow (at leaset the bird nest coral on the top left does not look too good).

Do you have any suggestions on how to tune my flow? Should I tune my Jebao program to sine or classic mode? Should I maybe buy an additional or different flow pump? As the tank is new, I am also open to suggestions regarding the rearrangements of the corals, such that I make better use of the flow. Any comments appreciated.

Thanks, timocean.

Is the jeboa controllable?
Need one of them on the left.
If jeboa is controllable, have it do something. Play with it.

timocean · May 29, 2022

Thanks for your comments! Yes, the Jebao is controllable, but everything which is not constant does seem to reduce the flow quite a bit. I have now programmed it sucht, that during day time, I have a wave burst pattern every two hours. Also the Tunze is now back on the left and flowing behind the rock work. Lets see...