what do you think?....a flow question

basics:
450 L aquarium
estimated actual water volume with rock work, sand bed etc. 350-400 L.

from 7am to 9pm two koralia 5200 on opposite corners crashing in the middle of the tank, directed slightly upwards for water surface movement.

at 11am till 2 pm a third koralia comes in on another corner but this one is pointed towards the opposite glass wall. turns on mon. wend. thursday. other wise shut off.

from 9pm till 7 am flow in tank is insured by a single koralia 5200 on tue. thurs. friday other days of the week both opposite corner pumps are on during this period

HYDOR componenti per acquari

 

Honestly, I don't buy into the pumps being off or slower at night. The reason is that the tides and waves don't stop in the ocean at night. They are still going strong just like they do in the middle of the day. Truthfully, fish need that flow at night much more than during the. During they day, they are swimming around getting the water to flow over their gills. At night, they depend on the current for this. I hope this helps.

 

I'd be worried with pumps being off them getting dirty and not restarting over time. I have no proof this is possible it just seems that it would happen.

 

from what i knew what you mentioned is true, particularly for certain animals such as sharks species who need to sleep in currents, im not sure if this would apply to our pets however.
there is no doubt however that currents do change at night with the appearance of the moon as its gravitational pull affects tides as we all know. but this could create both more and less flow depending on the areas of the reef im guessing. im leaning towards a softer current at night for the following reasons.

gives a chance for my night time cuc to munch away of deposited organics as opposed them ending in my filter and building up (these are my own delusions and points of view btw)

i believe i have some species that dont enjoy high flow as much so a break from it all im assuming is beneficial for them.

i have an air stone running 24/7 for that extra o2.

but this is why i posted this up im interested in knowing what you all think. this is literally a new regime as i have never set my pumps on timers prior to this.

following your argument you could say a higher flow at night would insure that corals eat organics during night time (when supposedly they feed)

but anyway keep em coming! all personal experience is valued

 

The moon passes at daytime hours as well

 

to be completely honest, I can't think of any reef critter who doesn't like flow. As far as clean up crew goes, I would rather the nasties go through filtration rather than getting processed by the CUC. Even if the clean up crew eats the waste, it still gets converted to waste again. I would have questioned all of this until I went to hawaii a couple of years ago and actually got the opportunity to swim in the reefs with softies and sps alike and I tell you, there really wasn't much difference in any of the water movement. It still whipped me around like I was a rag doll. I then became a firm believer that flow is absolutely necessary in our tanks. I honestly don't want the junk to settle down in the tank. There's a really good reason most corals open their feeding tentacles at night.

 

touché.... but what im really trying to achieve here is a more "random" flow in my aquarium, spreading out on alternative days of the week when pumps go on and off.

ill do some further reading regarding flow at night in a home aquarium.....if anyone has any leads I would be much obliged as im always looking for a good read

 

I'm very interested in this as well. Anything to help the health of my fish and coral

 

It's a good thread and I like this type of conversation. I'm really interested in flow as well. That's why I have had so many different types of systems over the years from CLS to maxijets, to korlias. At this point, as long as I see my corals moving back and forth, I'm happy with it.

 

An air stone is mostly useless, all it does is create movement and surface agitation in a much less efficient manner than our power heads do. They do not directly put o2 into th system like many people think.
As far as night flow I am in the same position, I keep wanting to activate night mode on my pumps but never do since things look healthy and open up great every morning. I have a hard time changing from something that is already working