Tank Flow 201 - Maintenance & Upgrades

We all know tank flow is important especially in reef tanks. Actually, tank flow is important in all tanks. You can't very well imitate a river in a tropical tank if all you have is some bubbles floating through carbon. Likewise, you can't very well imitate an ocean if you only have a couple of weak powerheads in the tank. In the world of reef tank keeping, water body movement is more important than having a tiny focused jet stream aimed in one direction. Because of such, many reefers like using Tunze and Seio powerheads due to the way these powerheads propel water vs. the traditional pumps that shoots them like a firehose. (But you already know this stuff... so why am I writing about it 9 months after my tank is already established?)

Well, as a budget reefer, I opted for the Seios when I first started. Being that my tank is only 90 gallons, I didn't feel the need to splurge on a wave maker or controller based Tunze's if this is what I have to live with for a few years; of course, some people like to get the right equipment the first time around, which is also a good thing to do.

Welp, over the last few months, my Seios have slowly built up gunk and various debris in the intake valves such as chaeto, algae and baby snails have found their doom in the intake... This on top of me initially running them at half capacity due to not wanting a sand storm lead to a visible degrade in the tank after 9 months. Before I know it, the flow dropped drastically and the results were black and maroon cyano algae patches in the tank, droopy corals and some corals even stopped opening up. I knew my setup worked before the clogs so something had to be done.

Part 1: Maintenance

The first thing I did which I've put off for about a month is taking the pumps out and cleaning them. People say you should clean the Seios as often as once a month... but I say it really depends on how they look. Mine had coralline algae growing on them and some intakes even had bubble algae clogging up the holes. Many others had baby snails stuck in the vents; all of this was brushed away. Then, after that was done, I ran each pump in a heavy solution of vinegar and RO/DI water to get build up and the salt out of areas I can't reach with the brush. I don't know the science behind it but think of it as mouth wash for your pumps.

Once the pumps were cleaned and placed back into the tank, improvements were immediately noticed. The pumps worked as well as they had previously and over the next few days, coralline deposits that were previously on the powerheads either fell off or were disposed by the snails.

Part 2: Upgrade


While the clean up revived the old pumps, I wanted to also upgrade the tank to have more flow. While the Seio's are nice, if I had wanted some major upgrade, I would have needed to buy the large ones, which I don't like due to them creating whirlpools and bubbles every so often. Tunze recently came out with the Nano Streams which upon further research proved to be one hellova substitute. I order 2 of the $62 version from My Reef Creations and plugged them into my system as soon as they arrived!

So far, I must say I am happy with the purchase. The Nano Streams are well designed and their sphere shaped casing allows you to pretty much aim the stream in any direction you like. The included magnet mount is also a bonus as it allows you to place the power heads as high or as low as you would like in the tank without worrying about the mount's distance in relations to the top of the tank. Due to the intake area being 4-5x bigger than the Seio's, you also don't get the whirlpool effect as you would with the Seios which are annoying during water changes when the water is low.

I would say right now, my tank's flow is in the best shape it's ever been and with five power heads in my tank, the flow do bump around and cause some chaotic currents. If for some reason I feel this is still not enough, you will probably see a third installment of this article where I upgrade the Seios and get a controller for variable output. Hopefully that won't come until after the tank upgrade though... (date TBD).

Hippo Tang no more...

The hippo tang mysteriously disappeared a few days ago after the (non-related) party I had. Either I'm not feeding enough seaweed or the ones I'm buying are too small to get along with the current inhabitants of my tank. Either way, I think that will be my last attempt on tangs until I upgrade to a new tank. Losing hundreds of dollars in live stock sucks... and that's all I have to say about that.


R.I.P. - You will be missed...

Still Alive!

Good things today... I thought my sea urchin had died even though I never found remains, and the same goes for the tiny emerald crabs that I had purchased a few weeks back, but as of this past week and today, I spotted both groups alive and well. The sea urchin only comes out at night when it's pitch black and it only stays in one spot... this seems unusual for me since sea urchins can be spotted near sea sides during the day but I'll take it!

As for the mini crabs, I guess as long as they're doing their jobs, I won't complain even if I don't see them around. I just wanted them to be okay.

Thanks to Tony, I also bought some more stuff shortly after the new years. Since I still had worries about the red cotton algae, I went ahead and ordered 15 Mexican turbo snails to resolve the issue. Luckily, they are actually doing something this time around unlike the lazy batch I got last time. I also replaced my yellow clown goby with a baby one, who has been very entertaining to watch. Pictures to come soon, I promise.

Edit: Here's a pic I grabbed.