Decrease flow at night?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone advocate decreasing waterflow at night to mimic the calm that usually accompanies the die-down of winds in the tropics in the evening?

Despite my Durso pipe, my sump still makes quite a bit of noise.

 

[mgranato]

Nope, I run wide open 24/7.

 

[Anonymous]

If we have decreasing O2 levels at night, I would be nervous decreasing flow...

 

[das75]

Like others opinions as well.

Considering putting my CL (Dart pump) on a timer for late evening. Still would have about 1000gph through basement sump.

 

[Anonymous]

Does anyone advocate decreasing waterflow at night to mimic the calm that usually accompanies the die-down of winds in the tropics in the evening?

Despite my Durso pipe, my sump still makes quite a bit of noise.

winds may die down, but currents are under the water, not above it, heh-

i'll bet that tides,etc, still allow for/cause plenty of water volume movement at nite, and that the amounts of water moving past a coral at night are still waaay more than what occurs in a reef tank that gets its movement 'turned down'

 

[Anonymous]

I don't dial mine back at night.

Louey

 

[SnowManSnow]

I have been dialing mine back.. but I'm going to start letting it rip. I've been cutting down for about 3 weeks now, and haven't noticed anything positive in my tank.

B

 

[Anonymous]

I have been. Do not know if I will continue. I was doing it so my fish would have a chance to adjust to the massive flow I have in my tank. The PJ's seam to have adapted. Will probably continue untill I am fully stocked.

 

[Anonymous]

My big closed loop goes off twice a day for 5 hours each off period. The three hidden mj 1200's in the tank are on a timer thats on kind of randomly for about 8 hours in 24 (the are also on a wave strip).
The Tunze and the main return are on all the time.

I do it more for variations in flow that help put detritus into the water column instead of hidden in 'still pockets'.

As for natural reefs, there is ebb tide, flow tide and slack tide.

 

[das75]

As for natural reefs, there is ebb tide, flow tide and slack tide.

Good point.

On a reef what is a slack tide duration?

For me have a 145g with 1000gph though the basement sump (fairly quiet as 2x2" overflows) and a Dart (3600gph) on a CL. Thinking turning off the CL in the evening. Though Dart isn't bad, the buzz is a little annoying if say I just want to read a book on the couch late at night.

 

[Anonymous]

The tide durations differ from location to location, sometimes massively, so a magic number is hard to come by.

I wouldn't hesitate to turn the dart off for the evenings. It might add wear on your pump, and you do run the risk of it not spinning back up due to crud building up in the pump head - IMO bother are negligible worries. Regular pump maintenance should take care of both issues.

 

[Anonymous]

I turn off one of my 3 "stream like" pumps. Just for a little variety more then anything.