Inverting water flow direction in tank

[Geraud]

Hey everyone,

As I wait for my future tank (36 long, 20 wide, 18 tall), I am already thinking about using 2 MP10's for it, and realized that if I do that, I could put them both on one of the short sides, and by properly tweaking the settings, I could make the flow go in one direction (for instance clockwise) then reverse them and do the other one (counter-clockwise).

What I have in mind is the following (imagine the two on the left, one in front, one in back):
- during the day, run a random pattern with max power at 100% on the back pump, and the second one in anti-sync but at only 20% (or whichever minimal it can do). Or maybe just run in the second random pattern (eg: one in lagoon, the other in reef crest) at 20% to create some randomness.
- during the night, do the opposite
- but when transitioning from night/day and day/night, I would like the future "main pump" to run by itself, at 100% in constant mode, for several minutes, to "get the flow started" in the direction I want it.

The goal is to have the ability to have a lot of random pattern but "in a general direction" (I am French after all so I do lots of things in a general direction) most of the time, but on transitions it would be like a tide going up or down.

Has anyone tried anything like that?

 

[Nova23]

Hi!!
I have a 26 long tank and I have a Nero3, one mp10 and another random one that gives me around 700gh

The way I start it was the Nero and mp10 at the tops with like 3 1/2 inches apart in the middle of the tank (left side). And then other left corner 11/2 inches from sand bed and left side almost half inch from back wall… worked okay.
But the real flow started after moving the mp10 to the middle like 2 inches from front glass…
There is flow everywhere and they have always been setup 75% to 85% on random flow
The 700gh is on a timer every 30 minutes for 30 minutes
I hope this helps

 

[Geraud]

Hi!!
I have a 26 long tank and I have a Nero3, one mp10 and another random one that gives me around 700gh

The way I start it was the Nero and mp10 at the tops with like 3 1/2 inches apart in the middle of the tank (left side). And then other left corner 11/2 inches from sand bed and left side almost half inch from back wall… worked okay.
But the real flow started after moving the mp10 to the middle like 2 inches from front glass…
There is flow everywhere and they have always been setup 75% to 85% on random flow
The 700gh is on a timer every 30 minutes for 30 minutes
I hope this helps

Thanks for your feedback! Do you actually see the flow getting changing direction in the tank?

 

[r72]

Thanks for information

 

[Nova23]

Thanks for your feedback! Do you actually see the flow getting changing direction in the tank?

Definitely just move the sand a bit or use a turkey buster for bubbles

Thanks for information

Anytime

 

[Josh]

Scoop up some detritus from your sump into a turkey baster and try it out!

 

[Geraud]

Scoop up some detritus from your sump into a turkey baster and try it out!

I wish I could do that! I do have a sump with stuff to turkey baste in it, but my tank is currently a bunch of pieces of glass in Texas as far as I know!

However I'll keep that in mind to make some tests! I read that some people also use fine bubbles. That will be a good way to test the flow pattern in different parts of the tank.

 

[aquarianz]

Hey everyone,

As I wait for my future tank (36 long, 20 wide, 18 tall), I am already thinking about using 2 MP10's for it, and realized that if I do that, I could put them both on one of the short sides, and by properly tweaking the settings, I could make the flow go in one direction (for instance clockwise) then reverse them and do the other one (counter-clockwise).

What I have in mind is the following (imagine the two on the left, one in front, one in back):
- during the day, run a random pattern with max power at 100% on the back pump, and the second one in anti-sync but at only 20% (or whichever minimal it can do). Or maybe just run in the second random pattern (eg: one in lagoon, the other in reef crest) at 20% to create some randomness.
- during the night, do the opposite
- but when transitioning from night/day and day/night I would like the future "main pump" to run by itself, at 100% in constant mode, for several minutes, to "get the flow started" in the direction I want it.

The goal is to have the ability to have a lot of random pattern but "in a general direction" (I am French after all so I do lots of things in a general direction) most of the time, but on transitions it would be like a tide going up or down.

Has anyone tried anything like that?

Have you tested it yet? And did you use fine bubbles?

 

[Geraud]

Still waiting on my tank to be delivered! Should be soonish since it has been "in production" for several weeks now. (I believe they let the silicone cure for 4 weeks or something like that for 1/2" glass).

But will definitively try the micro-bubble method!

 

[Geraud]

Just a quick update: tank was finally delivered, as well as the gear for the stand (of course everything came in the wrong order. But well, I am building a lot myself so that's not unexpected)

Anyway, I filled it half way already and I can test with my idea. It looks like this is working!

As a matter of fact, when running both pumps at 10%, just putting one of them at 30% for a minute will be enough to invert the flow in the tank.

Of course what remains to be seen is, will that work with rocks in the middle, and when one of the pumps (back one) is closer to the bottom so as to stir hard to reach/see sediments. Still cautiously optimistic!

 

[Geraud]

Live rock is in, and with space in front of behind it (it's placed as two islands along the center, parallel to the length), I am running the following:

- Most of the day, both pumps are on reef crest at 100%. This provides a nice turbulent flow

- Twice a day:
- for 30 minutes I have both going into lagoon. One of them stays at 100%, the other one goes to 0% over that time
- then for one hour one of the pumps stays at lagoon 100% (in the morning the back one, in the evening the front one) which creates a laminar flow which has a different direction morning and evening.
- After that 30 more minutes of lagoon, where the second pump is brought back to 100%.
- Finally back to RC 100%.