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Flow Advise

N

nijat11

Member
Joined
5 Mar 2023
Messages
363
Location
The Netherlands
Hello everyone!
I have a 800 liters tank with 250 liter sump.
My return pump is 6500l/h. My overflow on the left side of the tank in back corner, the outflow is also there.
Now, I got 2 Maxspect XF350 gyre and placed them on right and left side (near overfloew) of the tank.
Currently the right side is working on 20% pushing water to overflow (and return pump is pushing on different direction) and the one on the left side is working on -50%.
Do you think is it good, or should I change the configuration?
 
Hi @Hufsa here is scheme of the tank
aquarium.PNG
 
Do I interpret the drawing correctly, the right side Gyre is pushing water across the surface, and the left side Gyre is pushing water down towards the substrate? As in, the drawing is a birds eye view from the top of the tank?
 
Hufsa said:
Do I interpret the drawing correctly, the right side Gyre is pushing water across the surface, and the left side Gyre is pushing water down towards the substrate? As in, the drawing is a birds eye view from the top of the tank?
Click to expand...
Yeap all correct
 
How does the flow seem to you?
Is water circulating in all areas of the tank?
Does the substrate have spots where a lot of detritus settles?
Are all plants gently moving, or are you having issues with plant growth in certain areas?
 
Hufsa said:
How does the flow seem to you?
Is water circulating in all areas of the tank?
Does the substrate have spots where a lot of detritus settles?
Are all plants gently moving, or are you having issues with plant growth in certain areas?
Click to expand...
I have added maxspect only for 2 days, because I have seen on some plants staghorn algae, so now curious if my setup is correct or should i change direction of flow.
 
I find hair type algae grow where there is faster flow from small nozzles, I have medium plant density and do 50% water changes weekly, I put it down to overfeeding. my tanks are low tech, no CO2, and I probably over feed.

I have 2 airstones running at one end agianst the glass and the glass has BBA every week, Another tank with power head tends to grow GSA near the powerhead. I kinda look at it as nature is balancing things, still I don't like the algae growth. For me I think it is ferts and over feeding and maybe low light.
 
nijat11 said:
More comments please, still need advise on this.
Click to expand...

Seems a little unusual to have the stream pumps flowing counter to the filter outlet. I'd be more inclined to reverse the flow of the Maxspect units so they flow in the same direction as the main return pump outflow.

As @Hufsa says though, the best way to see if you have sufficient flow is:

Hufsa said:
Is water circulating in all areas of the tank?
Does the substrate have spots where a lot of detritus settles?
Are all plants gently moving, or are you having issues with plant growth in certain areas?
Click to expand...
 
Wookii said:
Seems a little unusual to have the stream pumps flowing counter to the filter outlet. I'd be more inclined to reverse the flow of the Maxspect units so they flow in the same direction as the main return pump outflow
Click to expand...
Why is that?
Having opposing flow would create random flow where the two streams of water meet.
Surely this creates better water movement?
 
seedoubleyou said:
Why is that?
Having opposing flow would create random flow where the two streams of water meet.
Surely this creates better water movement?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, the flow would be randomised as you say, so it's difficult to predict, and there is greater chance of dead spots where the two opposing flows interact. Having a continuous circular flow (vertically in this case - horizontally more typically), generally reduces the chance of that happening.

It's similar if you have a larger tank with two canister filters attached - you generally don't want the outlets in opposing directions running into one another for similar reasons, and it's best practise to have them in opposite corners flowing to create a circular flow.
 
Wookii said:
Not necessarily, the flow would be randomised as you say, so it's difficult to predict, and there is greater chance of dead spots where the two opposing flows interact. Having a continuous circular flow (vertically in this case - horizontally more typically), generally reduces the chance of that happening.

It's similar if you have a larger tank with two canister filters attached - you generally don't want the outlets in opposing directions running into one another for similar reasons, and it's best practise to have them in opposite corners flowing to create a circular flow.
Click to expand...
Wasn’t trying to catch you out mate, in reef keeping we typically have wavemakers opposing as flow is key to coral health.
Understandably with canister filters as they just don’t produce enough flow.
But a decent wave maker should be producing enough flow to generate some good random flow.
I suppose water patterns in oceans differ greatly from the streams and rivers our tropical fish come from.
 
seedoubleyou said:
Wasn’t trying to catch you out mate, in reef keeping we typically have wavemakers opposing as flow is key to coral health.
Understandably with canister filters as they just don’t produce enough flow.
But a decent wave maker should be producing enough flow to generate some good random flow.
I suppose water patterns in oceans differ greatly from the streams and rivers our tropical fish come from.
Click to expand...

No, no, it’s fine mate, it was a fair question. I did slightly assume you were comparing to a reef set-up when you asked.

I think the difference is the amount of flow in a reef system is massively higher than in a planted tank, so there will be random flow movements in all areas of the tank from the turbulence generated.

In a planted tank it’s obviously much gentler, so it’s easy for counter flows to cancel each other out and generate dead spots, rather than turbulence.
 
Think l proved this to myself when at the time the CO2 tank had a hair algae outbreak,drop checker lime green, after reading a post by @ceg4048 in answer to a question about flow l changed it to as @Wookii says and with removing and flow pattern inlet and outlet one side of aquarium and the algae problem was sorted and plants put on healthy growth
 
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