Water flow question

[Deep Blue]

My tank is 65G and has 2 Maxi-jet 1200s and 1 Prism Pro.

I was told to put in a third maxi-jet to get more "turbulent" flow but upon observing both my fish and an anemity, there apears to be too much "flow" as things get blown around.

My solution is to turn the little water directional things in such a way as to both reduce flow and redirect the flow.

I was all set to follow this advice as part of my upgrade to a reef system when reading I realized that too much flow isnt appreciated by things like pulsing corals etc.

I dont want to waste my money on anything so do I have enough flow as it is or not?

 

[Ben1]

Corals dont appriciate direct flow from powerheads, or flow to the point where it either irritates the tissue and cuases damage or pervents them form extending properly.

Tanks that have a lot of flow in a large area keep things suspened better allowing for better filtration and less settling. Corals benifit from a flow that keeps them swaying, bringing in food and exporting there wastes and preventing any build up or stangnant areas around corals.

To me the best flow is the most water movement you can possible get in the tank with out any hot spots of concentrated flow, but rather lots of flow spread over the whole tank. This can be accomplished by lots of powerheads boucing off the glass, cutting the nozzles off your maxi-jets gives a wider flow also. Tunze streams are very popular now but the same can be accomplished in many ways.

 

[aquarist=broke]

cutting the nozzles off your maxi-jets gives a wider flow also.

That idea rules. Why didn't i think of doing that?

 

[elpescado]

Laminar, not linear. The amount of current needed is dependant on the animals being kept. It is possible to keep low current corals in the same tank as high current ones. You can create "micro environments" within the aquarium just by angling power heads.
My reef circulation is run by an Iwaki 100RLT split into 4 return outlets and each outlet is flared from 3/4 inch to 2 inch. It gives a wall of water and not a hard stream of water.
So to sort of back up the advice you recieve before. Yes, you may need more powerheads, but let your corals dictate how many and how large.