Handheld Flow Meter

[lambchops]

Something that I've been thinking about but haven't put much time or effort into researching is flow inside the tank.

There is much debate on what flow should be going through your sump, fuge, and powerheads. We have nifty inline flow meters that will help diagnose issues with our overflow and return flow but I haven't seen a tool being utilized to find out how much flow is in out tanks. Sure we have the measurement of the GPH from the manufacturers of the pumps and we can make the decision of what we think our coral needs and that seems to be working well for most. I see a lot of people describing the need of flow as low, medium, high but don't blast them. Are these the best options we have?

Wouldn't it be great if we had a tool that we could just put in front of a coral and see how many gallons per hour it's recieving? I don't mean leave it there but to use it as we use PAR meters, to spot check and find the sweet spot.

I may be over thinking this and maybe it's not a need. Does anyone know of anyone doing this yet?

 

[Dana Riddle]

There are some flow meters that can do that, but are expensive. A propeller velocity meter starts at about $700. The meter I use for testing pumps (a Marsh-McBirney FloMate electromagnetic - now discontinued) was $5,000. It has been a pipedream of mine for a number of years to develop an inexpensive device to estimate water velocity. Perhaps I can get to it one day...

 

[lambchops]

There are some flow meters that can do that, but are expensive. A propeller velocity meter starts at about $700. The meter I use for testing pumps (a Marsh-McBirney FloMate electromagnetic - now discontinued) was $5,000. It has been a pipedream of mine for a number of years to develop an inexpensive device to estimate water velocity. Perhaps I can get to it one day...

I hope someone gets to it someday.

I just picture a little meter on a stick that you can put wherever.