opinions on water flow

[Phoenixphire55]

I have a 30 gallon standard tank with 4 little goldfish and 2 medium sized goldfish in it (please don't tell me that they need to be in a bigger tank, I know my stuff when it comes to goldfish and they will have a bigger tank in a few months). In the middle-back of the tank at the level of the water I have a powerhead which is angled towards the front left corner of the aquarium. At its slower flow it causes a little eddy at the top of the tank and the goldfish swim up into it but usually remain in the middle and bottom of the tank. Occasionally I turn it to the fast flow which creates a swirling current in the top left side of the tank and the goldfish still swim up into this and get thrown around a little but nothing extreme. They can still swim with the current, but I only keep it on for a few hour a day. My view is that I giving them a little exercise time with the faster current (which they can escape from by going to the lower right quarter of the tank where the water is basically still).

Does this seem like fun exercise or a daily stress inducer?

 

[kimo]

Won't hurt the goldfish one bit.

 

[jsoong]

I run a 750GPH pump from my sump, and the goldfish are fine with it. I have a few big pieces of driftwood & rocks that gives a "shadow" of calmer water, but my goldies only go there for sleep.

So unless you have an exceptionally weak swimmer (some of the bubble eyes, eg) or a sick fish, the current should be fine.