Jon Finch showed me this many years ago. Simply cut off the nozzle and plug it into a timer. The cool thing is that almost every time it restarts, the impeller will spin the opposite direction. A clockwise spin causes water to shoot off to the right and a counterclockwise spin sends water ~90 degrees to the left. It's a strong stream that changes the flow in the tank. I have it run for 6 hours then turn off for 15 minutes then back on. A 6 hour cycle changes the flow 4 times/day just like the tides and causes everything to grow better.

 

 

<Edit>
Not sure if I explained this, but this device causes the water to flow in alternating directions so that detritus cannot settle in any one spot for long.
Another thing I do that I believe assists this effect is to place the large rock up off the sand. The resulting flow over the Oolitic Sand seems to enhance Alk and Ca levels too.
Crushed coral sand had to be placed in some areas to keep the Oolitic from blowing away. I just took some pics that I will post ASAP.
This tank has 2 strong powerheads that cannot be seen. They are on continuously, pushing water from each bottom back corner so that it "boils" in the top center. The two streams not only move water from bottom to top, but they send turbulent swirling water down the front center of the tank creating various vortices. These changing vortices seem to also influence water flow in other parts of the tank as the swirls wiggle from side to side.

 

 

Very compelling arguements, and I certainly see his reasoning.

 

Adam

 

Really?  I think Lee Goldman has done a great job, and just about everybody is ga-ga over Jake Adams...

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2/ - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2/

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature/ - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature/

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2 - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature/ - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature/

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature/ - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature/

 

Adam

Exactly!  Both these guys are against wavemakers.  They are more on the lines of pushing all the water one way.  Not the common hobbyist method of chaos and random movement.  Both would prefer you simply move all the water along.

Only thing better than that is moving all the water along... and then moving it all back.

 

Adam

I don't know what to call it, but I know it made a difference in my little frag tank and now in my new 55 at a fraction of the cost of the commercially produced wave equipment. Another coral grower, Bruce Ewald, has now added his endorsement.

 

We aren't on the lecture circuit and we don't publish papers but each of us ordinary hobbyists finds simple ways to improve our little part of the Ocean, the "Interconnected Reef", as LeRoy Headlee ( http://www.garf.org - www.garf.org ) calls it. Keep up the good work everyone.

 

Adam

Fish swim to get food, corals can't.  Therefore the food has to come to them.

 

Now there a host of other reasons why others argue for important flow but they typically receive much less attention...
1) gas exchange
2) heat removal

3) spawning

4) distribution of light over the tissue

5) removal of mucous

6) etc....

 

Adam

 

It is flat.  Therefore it catches food that falls on it... not food that blows by it.  So it needs slow flow for food to fall on it and remain their long enough to be collected and ingested.

So if in deep water away from fast currents, it probably receives less light.  Therefore it doesn't overheat tissue in doesn't need to rid that energy.  Plus, it would have to adapt to lower light levels for photosynthesis (more accurately it would have to adapt to the repercussions of zooxanthellae photosynthesis).

Many acros catch food flying by them.  Sometimes the flow is so high the polyp can't face forward but instead is pushed back by the current.  These polyps grab food "backhanded" as the plankton swirls by them.  They also have small polyps to avoid getting torn apart by hight flow.  They also form mucous nets to protect them at low tide when they are out of the water... but then they need high flow to blow off those nets.

 

Unfortunately with all the varieties of corals and invertebrates out there, I can't pin down what I think is best for water flow.  I changed my mind every few months on this.  Currently, I think pushing all the water one way for a time (30 seconds to 4 hours) and then pushing it all back the other way is best.

 

Adam

 

I agree. Great articles and could be a good speaker! Thanks for posting those links.

 

Mike

 

Adam

 

Now just imagine how great it would be if someone making these suggestions was on the presidency.  They'd probably get to choose what month we bring in the speaker, and they'd probably get to spend the whole day with the speaker.

 

Just imagine how great that would be!

 

Adam

It sure does help with those other items... but then again you may just be beating up the frogspawn.  With enough flow it will certainly tear apart.

 

Adam

ps- I've seen frogspawn grow in no flow

45 degrees? Well, I cut the plastic volute(the round casing in which the impeller spins) back a little more to the right and a little more to the left so the alternate water streams can shoot out at closer to 90 degrees from each other.

Looking again at that old pic I realize that it's hard to see just how far back I cut the nozzle off. In fact, in that pic it wasn't cut back far enough to give the full 90 degree shift. That was for a Poormans Wavemaker I did for a 55 gal. The Maxijet was on one end of the tank. A full 90 degree shift would have been too much. The full tank pic is here in a link to my tanks pictorial in the Tips and How to's section http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 - http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244

 

I have also since learned that smoothing out the inside edges helps the water stream flow straighter, fuller and faster.