Will adding powerheads really help my Acropora growth

[[email protected]]

I have a 4 year old reef tank of 150 gallons. I have had SPS corals
for approximately 1 1/2 years which have grown but sometimes not
maintained the color I desired. The SPS corals are kept in the top 12"
of the tank under a 250Watt HQI pendant. For about the past year I
have had a deep blue Acropora tortusa. It has indeed grown, and
maintained excellent deep blue coloration, probably increasing from a
single 1/2" frag to a multiple branched specimen about 3" tall. My
question is regarding the flow in the tank. Most sources recommend
high flow for SPS corals, but I have relatively low flow around my SPS
corals. Due to the shape and arrangement of my tank, it is difficult
to position a powerhead to give flow to the tank where the SPS are.
Should I simply not mess with what appears to be working, or perhaps my
corals would really do much better with some powerheads constantly
circulating water around them?

[unclenorm]

Hi,
You don't say how much flow you have now, ideally you should have
about twenty times the volume of water in your tank/system per hour. I
think though that your main problem is your lighting, you say your tank
set up is four years old, is the the lighting that old ? if it is it
has long passed it's replacement date, is it the only light ? if it is
you have less than 2 Watts per gall. woefully inadequate you should
have at least 4 or 5 Watts per gall., you don't say what the kelvin
rating is ? for a 150 gall. tank with hard corals you should have
600/750 Watts some of which needs to be actinic blue even if you are
using 20,000 K .
regards,
unclenorm.

wrote:
> I have a 4 year old reef tank of 150 gallons. I have had SPS corals
> for approximately 1 1/2 years which have grown but sometimes not
> maintained the color I desired. The SPS corals are kept in the top
12"
> of the tank under a 250Watt HQI pendant. For about the past year I
> have had a deep blue Acropora tortusa. It has indeed grown, and
> maintained excellent deep blue coloration, probably increasing from a
> single 1/2" frag to a multiple branched specimen about 3" tall. My
> question is regarding the flow in the tank. Most sources recommend
> high flow for SPS corals, but I have relatively low flow around my
SPS
> corals. Due to the shape and arrangement of my tank, it is difficult
> to position a powerhead to give flow to the tank where the SPS are.
> Should I simply not mess with what appears to be working, or perhaps
my
> corals would really do much better with some powerheads constantly
> circulating water around them?

[wxtbs]

If you have SPS that are growing and holding their color than I wouldnt
mess with your current set-up. I have a 92 gal and for 2 years had the
return as the only circulation so I was moving around 700gph. My SPS
were growing but I wasnt seeing the polyp extention like other people
have had so I added a couple of pumps for an additional 1300 gph or so
of water movement.
Im not saying that this is the cause but it has been a month and I have
been battling red slime and hair algae ever since I made the change and
the SPS that were extending their polyps are not extending anymore. The
only positive affect I have seen in the last month is that more scum
must be getting to my skimmer because it is producing a lot more crud.
Right now Im still in the wait and see mode before I make any changes.
I'm hoping it is just a matter of time for things to get back in sync.

Ken






wrote:
> I have a 4 year old reef tank of 150 gallons. I have had SPS corals
> for approximately 1 1/2 years which have grown but sometimes not
> maintained the color I desired. The SPS corals are kept in the top
12"
> of the tank under a 250Watt HQI pendant. For about the past year I
> have had a deep blue Acropora tortusa. It has indeed grown, and
> maintained excellent deep blue coloration, probably increasing from a
> single 1/2" frag to a multiple branched specimen about 3" tall. My
> question is regarding the flow in the tank. Most sources recommend
> high flow for SPS corals, but I have relatively low flow around my
SPS
> corals. Due to the shape and arrangement of my tank, it is difficult
> to position a powerhead to give flow to the tank where the SPS are.
> Should I simply not mess with what appears to be working, or perhaps
my
> corals would really do much better with some powerheads constantly
> circulating water around them?