Reduced flow at night -- good idea?

[geno]

I was thinking (dangerous) that it might be a good idea to slow down the flow at night when everyone is trying to rest.

I have 2 k 4's and 3 k 1's in my 125 and I've decided to shut down the k 4's at night.

Does this seem like a good idea? Since these are not tunze or vortech, I can't adjust flow other than turning them off.

Your thoughts?

-gene

 

[fish scales2]

My first thought was "alot of coral feed at night"
Second thought was "hmmm, good way to help train coral to feed during the day"

 

[delloman]

you can train coral to feed during the day?

 

[fish scales2]

Maybe my coral is confused since my lights come on at 9pm but my LPS all keep there feeders out all night long. Right now one of my favias has polyps well over an inch flowing. I feed them pellets.

 

[ralph atl]

don't shut off the flow at night. Your corals can "suffocate" as sessile animals they require all their needs to come to them & remove any waste & buildup. It's kinda like stopping your heart at night so u can rest.

 

[geno]

So, how do those wave maker boxes work? Do they just slow down the flow rather than turning it off?

BTW, I leave the 3 Koralia 1's running -- so there is some movement.

 

[acroholic]

Tunze and Vortech programmers all have a night mode on them. This slows down the pumps, the main idea being that it mimics the calmer night waters in the ocean, when sessile organisms come out to feed.

I use night mode on my 210 and my 100 gallon.
Dave

 

[derek_s]

Yeah, for example, the vortec night program still runs just like the day, only at 50% power. Unless you have really turbulent flow, I dont think there is any need to decrease it at night. And if you do, be sure to have something going in addition to your return pump at night, at least.


And yes, I think you can train corals to feed and open in the day. THis is is really nice for corals like sun corals.

At cap bay one of my fellow employees trained one to open in the day by feeding the tank cyclopeeze at the same time everyday. When the polyps opened, he would spot feed with mysis. Eventually, it would just open up at about that time every day waiting for the mysis.

Other corals will feed it the day too if they smell food. Anytime I feed my fish rods or cyclopeeze the corals usually respond a little afterwards. I guess they smell it.

 

[geno]

Since I have the K 1's running (3x400gph) at night plus the returns on each end -- hopefully nothing would suffocate.

I think the K 4's <u>each </u>move about 1200 gph -- so, I during the day my water movement is about 3600 gph -- and at night down to 1200 -- just calculating the powerheads.

Frankly, what got me to thinking about this is watching my clowns hosting in one of the soft corals -- I was thinking it might make is easier for them to relax at night if I shut down the K 4's.

I appreciate the feedback.

-gene

 

[ralph atl]

Because when the lights go out there is heavy respiration by all the animals and plants in the tank, but there is no photosynthesis to replenish the oxygen consumed. Oxygen levels, even in nature, drop dramatically and the water near the reef surface becomes hypoxic at night. Water motion helps to bring in oxygenated water and is especially important for animals like corals that rely on diffusion of O2 from the water column. There's actually a thin layer of water that "sticks" to the surface of the corals and becomes especially low in O2 as compared to the overlying water. This boundary layer forms a barrier to diffusion of O2 in and CO2 out of the coral, essentially suffocating it. The faster the water flow, the thinner the boundary layer. It doesn't make sense to increase the boundary layer when O2 is already at it's most limiting.

Essentially none of our animals actually sleep and those that enter some state or torpor don't need lower flow to do so.


Also, many corals extend polyps to feed when light is lower, meaning they would prefer motion to sweep away waste and also get fresh nutrition, near as I can tell. Good question though - great, in fact, since many wavemakers offer a nighttime mode to stop the rocking and rolling.

Also, just because the surface waves may calm down, doesn't mean the currents below the surface have altered by much

 

[corigan]

24/7 or offset light on a fuge helps with adding back o2 in the dark hours as well.

Matt

 

[geno]

As expected -- you guys are on this -- thanks.

Since I can't afford to purchase the Turbelle Stream Kit TS24 (2 6105's and the 7095 Controller -- $917) -- I was wondering if I could use the Red Sea Wavemaker and plug my K's into it? I could then create a bit more of a natural setting for the corals and fish. Or your recommendation on a wavemaker that would work with my Koralia's would be nice.

thanks, again -- gene

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

vortech night mode ftw

 

[geno]

if cutting the flow is purely to try and assist the fish, Id have to ask how have they managed all this time so far? they look tired? bags under their eyes? cranky till you pour in their morning coffee? but seriously, Im sure they all have a place to sleep with relatively low flow.</em>

Ares -- what a great addition to this thread:yay: It put a big smile on my face:lol2:

Unfortunately, I'm not at all clear on the best approach for my tank -- get a wavemaker or not. Apparently, my primary objective (the fish) was really the wrong motivation -- i.e. if they can handle it during the day -- they can handle it at night. I completely missed the concept of feeding corals.

I'll continue to do some research before making any kind of permanent change. Presently, I'm very satisfied with my tank and really don't want to upset the balance.

regards,
-gene

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I would not cut your pumps totally off at night but reducing the flow is not a bad thing. Many of the old wave boxes (see a Redsea box) were made to slow the flow down at night. Ocean seas calm at night, so there is no reason that your tank can't. You could even argue that slower water movement give MORE contact time for a coral to catch some food.

The thing you do not want to do is slow down the pumps so much that you have a problem with O2 levels. The reason your PH lowers at night is because your CO2 levels increase and your O2 level decrease. If you were to shut your pumps off entirely, you would make this problem worse and kill your fish. But you would have to slow your pumps down a lot of this to be a problem, plus you would have to kill your overflow and return. (See the reason fish die in a power outage) So I say, slow it down, there is not much you can hurt.

 

[acroholic]

If you run your protein skimmer 24/7 you shouldn't have issues with dissolved oxygen with reduced flow, I'd think.
Dave

 

[geno]

Excellent dialogue continues.

Dave, I do run the skimmer 24/7 as I do the return pump.

At this time, I've decided to control <u>one </u>K 4 leaving another K 4 running along with 3 K 1's.

My preference would be to <u>slow down </u>(not shut down) the 2 K 4's -- however, I'm not sure that can be done with the Koralia's I have -- I don't think they're designed for anything other than being on or off (the newer ones can).

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Acroholic;313139 wrote: If you run your protein skimmer 24/7 you shouldn't have issues with dissolved oxygen with reduced flow, I'd think.
Dave

Most newer research suggests that your skimmer does not really impart too much O2 into the water. Not enough to make up for poor surface agitation and flow.

 

[geno]

dawgdude;313256 wrote: You are correct, and with the pricepoint of the controllers for the K's, you might as well jump on Tim's Group Buy.

Where do I find out more about Tim's Group Buy?

 

[enderg60]

there are places with high and low flow at night, nothing in your tank really cares.

that said, I turn off my powerheads at night and plan to keep doing so. Mostly for the savings in power.