how much flow is too much flow

[mr funktastic]

i have a 30 gal tank currently set up with some GSP, mushrooms, kenya tree. just some easy grow stuff. i also have a clown and a royal gramma. my question is i had a hydor mini 425 gph powerhead on it. didnt seem to push that much. so i got a maxijet 400. its rated for 500 gph in the recirculation mode. 110 gph in powerhead mode. i have it set up in recirculation mode.

it seems to push wayyyy more then the hydor mini. i also have a marineland 350 HOB filter (filled with live rock rubble with a coarse cleaning pad for mechanical filtration) and a prism HOb skimmer. the skimmer and filter dont put out a lot of current. is this too much for the tank? the clown seems to like it. im just worried about the corals getting too much flow. i may need to move them around. i will get a pic of the tank a bit later to show the coral placement. any questions just ask.

thanks in advance

 

[Shirtlessbill]

I had similar questions a while back for my 125. This is the advice that was passed on to me:

"A fowlr tank should be atleast 10x a soft coral tank 30x mixed reef 40x+ and sps reef 50x. This is a general rule of thumb but works out pretty well in most cases."

So take all if your gph and add them together then divide by the number of gallons. 500/30= ~16.6

So in fact you could do a lot more (if I'm understanding the situation)

 

[mr funktastic]

That does make sense. It just seems like a lot lol. So I could put the other power head on the other side essentially.

 

[melosu58]

The best kind of flow esp. in a reef tank is chaotic flow. Two PH`s pointed at each other from seperate ends od the tank. I have my return lines pointed to the front glass at the same spot and it causes this chaotic flow. That`s my experience for 14+ yrs.

 

[Shirtlessbill]

Sound advice.


The way that helped me think about it was when I tried to mimic my setup as close to that of an actual body of water. It is amazing how fast corals become happy when you do this.