1150gph on a 120 gallon tank - help

[bluey]

We recently purchased a 120 gallon reef ready tank with a 1150gph pump made by Little Giant.

We introduced some load into the tank to help the cycling process 25 neon tetras, bio spira dumped in then the little fish. Immediatly as warned by the fish retailer half would die. Well only 33% died, good odds!

A week went by and we had 17 neon tetras all others dies within a hour of day one.

The tank appeared to cycle (biospira help) and we added the larger 4 inch plus fish little by little. Added the clown loaches several days later, no Neon deaths. Added the Gouramis and within 24hrs 4 more neon tetras died (just by putting the 4 inch Gouramis) in the tank the neons freaked.

As a side note, I've been starting to wonder if 1150gph pump is overkill. When I turn the pump down via a valve to feed them all fish seem to swim more freely. I turn it to full blast and they start to hide.

Yet over time the Neons seem to be getting accustomed to this super flow but they don't seem to hang out in the school as much until the flow is reduced. The clown loaches seem to love the flow. The Gouramis seem still a bit freaked out by it, but they are really new to this tank.

Any advice from anyone would be great here, but I started to wonder if it was ok to use my valve to regulate the flow from the 1150gph pump into the tank. The pump seems pretty hot as is and I wondered if it would be a problem to cut the flow in half, being that this pump is cooled by water.

Thanks for the advice

 

[BrianNY]

JMO bluey, but nature has a way of filling regions that animals live in and adapt to. Some fish like plecos do better in a swift moving current. Others such as gouramis prefer still water.

If you consider a fishes anatomy and breeding habits, it should make sense. A pleco can hold on to something submerged with its mouth and has adapted to living in high current regions. A gourami builds a bubblenest on the surface and needs still water to accomplish this.

That being said, I'm sure you can reach a happy medium.

 

[bluey]

Thanks for the info BrianNY. I guess what I was really wondering if turning down the 1150gph Little Giant pump via a valve was going to cause a problem? As I see it gets fairly hot now. If I turn down the pump via the valve is it going to burn out quickly? Since the external pump relies on water running through it to cool it and less water runs through it should run hotter??? What would happen if I closed the valve completely and let the pump run with effectively no flow for hours?

I'm just trying to understand the plumbing with the pump a little bit better.

Thanks

 

[bluey]

Anyone know of any good sites to talk about pumps/large tanks and plumbing BTW?