Is there such thing as too much flow?

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

Hey guys,
I fairly new to the hobby and lack experience. My tank is running well but noticed a great increase in Alk and Cal after adding 2 more powerheads. I have a 92g Corner Bowfront sps dominant tank. I had 2 Wp25s that were doing great but I wanted to try to get some for flow. The build of my tank makes great flow challenging so I added a MP40 and an MP10. Overall my tank loves it but I had a drop of alk and cal within two days. Someone mentioned the water may be mixing too rapidly therefore forcing me to supplement with even more alk. But why did my Cal drop also? What are your experiences and thoughts? Is it too much flow and just wasting the alk? Or is my coral actually using it?
Thanks guys

tofucube · Jan 7, 2015

How much of a drop?

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

tofucube said:

1 DkH Over night. I didnt want to over react so I brought my alk up to where it has been and added a few ml on my dosing pump, waited till the next day. It was mathematically correct and it was a legitimate alk drop. Then the second day I tested my Cal and I had a drop of 50ppm there as well. I feed like a whole dkh is a lot.....

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

It makes sense for the alk to drop. When you mix water for too long the alk will drop, but I dont think the Ca will do so as well

AddictedtoSalt · Jan 7, 2015

Alk and cal go hand in hand, and mag to a lesser extent. I dont think that adding more flow would cause a sudden drop necessarily. What brand test kits and how old are they?

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

AddictedtoSalt said:

I use hanna checkers and used a red sea test kit to confirm accuracy.

tofucube · Jan 7, 2015

Change light recently?

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

tofucube said:

No, the only change was adding the MP40 and MP10 in addition to my Wp25s. This bring my dosing up to 68ml of Bionic alk and 48ml of Bionic Cal. It may be higher when I tune it in

surferd31 · Jan 7, 2015

Is it possible the newly added flow allowed the corals to uptake more of the trace elements? Or at least faster than they were before

AddictedtoSalt · Jan 7, 2015

surferd31 said:

Thats what I was thinking. Maybe the extra flow woke them up and made them super happy.

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

Well I have always had crazy polyp extension, but I do believe that they may be up-taking more. I just find 1 dKh to be alot, and now my tank is not happy after the swing lol

M3ace9 · Jan 7, 2015

I recently posted a video that kinda shows the flow before my upgrade actually. Everything has been happy. After upgrade I guess it they could just be happier. Someone mentioned that there could be too much flow. Just like when we mix water, eventually the alk will drop. Do you guys think this concept applies to our tanks? I mean it would make sense.

tofucube · Jan 7, 2015

A little high on the drop for normal consumption unless you added a bunch of colonies recently. Your dosing is not in balance so that can throw off the chemistry. Also, your heater may have kicked in a lot more often because of the colder weather so that could have taken it down some. Dosing pump pinched so not dosing your normal amount. That's all I can think of off the top my head for now.

MarinaClown · Jan 7, 2015

Yes, anemones when moves around, corals don't open either due to very strong flow or sand storm that is caused by the flow.

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rayray · Jan 7, 2015

imo there is usually not enough flow in the reef aquarium, just the wrong type.

Flow also deccreases CO2 & increases O2, which changes the reefs balance. CO2, bicarb ("alk"), Ca, Mg, O2, coral calcification and photosynthesis are all inter related. So let it get back to equilibrium and test again.

Macdaddynick1 · Jan 18, 2015

Why don't you stop running the new pumps for a day or two and see if you'll have the alk swing up , just to test your theory of pumps creating the higher uptake ?

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Is there such thing as too much flow?

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