Methods to increasing flow without upsetting coral?

kmarine · Mar 10, 2023

Hi everyone,

I have a 50 gallon tank (36 x 15 x 20 inches)
that is about 4 months old. I have cyano on my sand bed so am looking to increase flow. I have some softies/LPS corals and I’m a little worried about changing the flow too much and upsetting them. Currently I have a cp3 fluval wave maker (740gph) on one side of the tank that’s about 4 inches down and pointing to the surface and front glass. I just purchased another one to help increase the flow. Any suggestions on placement/ strategies to acclimate the corals to the new flow?

vetteguy53081 · Mar 10, 2023

kmarine said:
Hi everyone,

I have a 50 gallon tank (36 x 15 x 20 inches)
that is about 4 months old. I have cyano on my sand bed so am looking to increase flow. I have some softies/LPS corals and I’m a little worried about changing the flow too much and upsetting them. Currently I have a cp3 fluval wave maker (740gph) on one side of the tank that’s about 4 inches down and pointing to the surface and front glass. I just purchased another one to help increase the flow. Any suggestions on placement/ strategies to acclimate the corals to the new flow?

Make 1% increases while monitoring coral until you find happy percentage

mdb_talon · Mar 11, 2023

My thoughts are generally corals(softies or otherwise) can handle(and in some cases need) much more flow than people give them. Having said that I would take back the 2nd fluvial and buy a controllable powerheads. They not only allow adjusting the amount of flow, but also to use various pulse modes. You want more of a random flow and if the that powerheads is what I am thinking you have no intensity control or ability to make pulses or random modes

kmarine · Mar 11, 2023

mdb_talon said:
My thoughts are generally corals(softies or otherwise) can handle(and in some cases need) much more flow than people give them. Having said that I would take back the 2nd fluvial and buy a controllable powerheads. They not only allow adjusting the amount of flow, but also to use various pulse modes. You want more of a random flow and if the that powerheads is what I am thinking you have no intensity control or ability to make pulses or random modes

Thanks for your reply! you’re right it only has one speed so I’ll look into a different powerhead!

kmarine · Mar 11, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Make 1% increases while monitoring coral until you find happy percentage

I cannot change the sped with this power head but looks like I need to get a different one anyway

vetteguy53081 · Mar 11, 2023

kmarine said:
I cannot change the sped with this power head but looks like I need to get a different one anyway

For now, you can deflect it off glass- It will reduce flow strength and offer a gyre effect

Spare time · Mar 11, 2023

Cyano doesn't care about the flow. When I have cyano, its always in the SPS area of my tank with very high flow.

Quietman · Mar 11, 2023

Those two pumps should really be enough flow, redirect as mention will help. Softies/LPS can take a bit so don't worry too much about redirecting, just watch the corals - if they close for more than a couple days - might want to move a bit more.

Might also think about just getting some cyano treatment and dosing rather than spending more on pumps. Knock it back and then monitor to see if it returns with new adjusted flow.

At 4 months...this is just your tank still balancing out and maturing. So all part of getting there.

kmarine · Mar 11, 2023

Quietman said:
Those two pumps should really be enough flow, redirect as mention will help. Softies/LPS can take a bit so don't worry too much about redirecting, just watch the corals - if they close for more than a couple days - might want to move a bit more.

Might also think about just getting some cyano treatment and dosing rather than spending more on pumps. Knock it back and then monitor to see if it returns with new adjusted flow.

At 4 months...this is just your tank still balancing out and maturing. So all part of getting there.

Thank you! That gives me piece of mind that they shouldn't be too upset. Yeah I figured it was probably all part of the ugly phase so was hoping time and more flow would help it along. If it gets worse I'll definitely move on to treatment.