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too much flow ?

Deano3

Member
Joined
8 Feb 2012
Messages
2,503
Hi is there such a thing as too much flow ? I have a ada 60p and using a fluval g6 filter as flow is quite large but should this stop any plant growing ? maybe not allow the co2 to settle on leaves just I have seen good growth in the slower flow areas but never heard anyone complaining about to much flow

Thanks dean
 
I think the biggest problem with too much flow would be that plants won't stay in the bottom. I've 1000lph internal filter in less than 50L water as well (Vietnamese biotope) and no problem with Vallisneria, java ferns and Cryptocorynes. But no way I could maintain an Utricularia carpet:p
yeah I came home to 3 floating clumps hopefully start to see some healthy growth and all stays down
 
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7379/13966578758_29fb84b12b_k.jpg

I have two clumps of Alternanthera Reineckii in my tank, one in a high flow area on the left between the front glass that gets the inlet flow blasting across it toward the outlet at the back and one in a low flow area on the right just under my crook outlet. The whole 1-2 grow pot got initially planted in the high flow area but most of it just melted apart from the one that remains in place and a few stems that just didn't grow, so I rescued the strugglers and planted them up at the back in a small clump. Well the stuff in the low flow area has become much bushier and broader leaved while in the high flow area the leaves are much more slender and the stem much thinner, the other plants in this area visibly sway. I'm running at about 500lph which is less than the 900lph my Eheim pro3 250t can deliver, any more flow and I doubt it would survive. You can also see in the picture that I can't grow anything at the front left corner, HC just died a death in the substrate while the clump squeezed into a crack in my bogwood has huge growth with huge roots and is letting clumps loose around the tank, I even tried Glosso in that corner and you can see that's not faring well either. All that movement will mean the plants spend all their energy trying to strengthen tissues in their stems and roots in an effort to stay secured and not get blown away in a hurricane than growing broad foliage. I wouldn't put up an umbrella in a hurricane either!

So I would say flow can effect the way plants grow, some to their betterment and some to their detriment.
 
cheers mate might have a look for some media to maybe put around inlet or outlet to slow flow slightly, ebay maybe[DOUBLEPOST=1400792785][/DOUBLEPOST]actually just read I can use the silver lever on the G6 (the one that's cuts off the flow for maintenance) maybe just raise slightly so reduces the flow slightly anyone done this ?

thanks dean
 
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That's what I'm doing with my Eheim, lever set just a little more than halfway. Gives me good enough flow and gentle swaying rather than stems being bent back in the wind at its highest setting.
 
Do you guys think that this will not bother the filter? I mean I have a 1000 lph Fluval 305 and I want to use it on a 40 litre tank but I don't know if shutting off the inflow or outflow maintenance valves do decrease flow will be a good idea...for starters will this work? and will it not damage the propeller?
 
Well the stuff in the low flow area has become much bushier and broader leaved while in the high flow area the leaves are much more slender and the stem much thinner, the other plants in this area visibly sway

Isn't it just that there is too little light in the corner where the plants are doing less well? Alternathera is not a low light plant...
 
The area on the left is lower by about an inch than that on the right, so yes it receives a little less light and that's probably contributing to the poorer growth but that area is definitely affected by more currents than other areas. On the corner of my bogwood you can see a small root nub that's sticking out the back, this points directly at the alternanthera in that corner and appears to generate a vortice from the flow coming off the glass towards the back, it was growing okay up until it reached a height that placed its upper leaves into this vortice and has been doing poorly ever since.

But yes light is a limiting factor here also as I do have floating cover that occasionally will occlude this area.
 
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