Herbie's Reef
Active Member
A bit of background for my aquascape:
I initially messed up aquascaping my tank by going with an "NSA" aquascape. It looks cool but has been an absolute nightmare to deal with, especially when it comes to flow. Ideally I would reset my rock work but my tank is already over a year old and I will leave for college in a year and a half. I would like to at least see this tank grow out and somewhat mature.
The Issue:
Recently the corals on the right top side of my scape started showing signs of far too much flow. They have begun to turn white at the tips (not coral growth), this seems to be trauma induced from too much flow stripping some tissue off. My alkalinity is 8.0 and has been relatively stable for weeks with my phosphates at 0.1 and nitrates at 8.5 I do not believe it is a burnt tip issue. These frags seemed to have tolerated this flow for a while as they had been here for months, but I believe a recent large water change and removal of detritus created enough stress for these guys to be more vulnerable to this high flow.
Below are pictures of the affected corals.
Most of these were getting strong direct flow, I am now attempting to rearrange and relocate my pumps to prevent this from happening again. Right now I need some advice on what I should do for flow and particularly where to place my current pumps. I am considering the back glass but have not seen many if any examples of people doing this with all or most of their pumps. The next pictures show where my pumps had been placed for months with no prior issues until this event with tissue loss.
The next photo shows where I have moved them temporarily. The right vortech is at 80% and the left at 50% on a mostly reef crest and nutrient transport schedule. Before I moved them to their now temporary locations these values were 85% on the left pump and 70% on the right.
Below is some more photos of the tank to get a better understanding of my rock scape.
Some more general tank info:
dimensions:
41"x22"x22"
pumps:
MP40
MP40
Nero 3
Return:
Vectra M2 at 20%
lighting:
8 bulb T5
-4 blue plus
- 3 AB special
- 1 true actinic
1 36" reefbrite XHO
Parameters:
Salinity: 35ppt
Alk: 8.0 DKH
Cal:430 ppm
Mag:1350ppm
PO4: 0.1ppm
NO3: 8.5ppm
Daily Dosing:
4L Kalk via kalk stirrer
50ml AFR
15ml BRS Soda Ash
1.5ml TM NP Batch Balance
My main concern is pump placement of my current pumps and the power I should run them at for optimal flow in my reef
Thank you
I initially messed up aquascaping my tank by going with an "NSA" aquascape. It looks cool but has been an absolute nightmare to deal with, especially when it comes to flow. Ideally I would reset my rock work but my tank is already over a year old and I will leave for college in a year and a half. I would like to at least see this tank grow out and somewhat mature.
The Issue:
Recently the corals on the right top side of my scape started showing signs of far too much flow. They have begun to turn white at the tips (not coral growth), this seems to be trauma induced from too much flow stripping some tissue off. My alkalinity is 8.0 and has been relatively stable for weeks with my phosphates at 0.1 and nitrates at 8.5 I do not believe it is a burnt tip issue. These frags seemed to have tolerated this flow for a while as they had been here for months, but I believe a recent large water change and removal of detritus created enough stress for these guys to be more vulnerable to this high flow.
Below are pictures of the affected corals.
Most of these were getting strong direct flow, I am now attempting to rearrange and relocate my pumps to prevent this from happening again. Right now I need some advice on what I should do for flow and particularly where to place my current pumps. I am considering the back glass but have not seen many if any examples of people doing this with all or most of their pumps. The next pictures show where my pumps had been placed for months with no prior issues until this event with tissue loss.
The next photo shows where I have moved them temporarily. The right vortech is at 80% and the left at 50% on a mostly reef crest and nutrient transport schedule. Before I moved them to their now temporary locations these values were 85% on the left pump and 70% on the right.
Below is some more photos of the tank to get a better understanding of my rock scape.
Some more general tank info:
dimensions:
41"x22"x22"
pumps:
MP40
MP40
Nero 3
Return:
Vectra M2 at 20%
lighting:
8 bulb T5
-4 blue plus
- 3 AB special
- 1 true actinic
1 36" reefbrite XHO
Parameters:
Salinity: 35ppt
Alk: 8.0 DKH
Cal:430 ppm
Mag:1350ppm
PO4: 0.1ppm
NO3: 8.5ppm
Daily Dosing:
4L Kalk via kalk stirrer
50ml AFR
15ml BRS Soda Ash
1.5ml TM NP Batch Balance
My main concern is pump placement of my current pumps and the power I should run them at for optimal flow in my reef
Thank you
