We wanted to increase the water flow of the Demo tank from The Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide. Water flow helps give oxygen to the tank , helps to remove waste and aides in the feeding of corals. In many tanks, more water flow is better. It is rare that a tank has too much water flow. How ever, if you have Seahorses and other delicate species, too much water flow is not a good thing.
overflow
Some people like to drill into the bottom of the fish tank and put returns into the bottom of the tank. I have heard that there are many fans of this method, but we feel that the less holes in the tank, the less likely bad things are to happen, such as a leak, a crack, or faulty check valve during a power outage. Fans of below the water line tank returns might be screaming now how safe it is and how good it is for the tank, and how much neater the plumbing looks. Hey, there are many ways to set up a fish tank. There is no one correct way. This is part of the fun of having a tank. Do it the way you want! Don’t worry. Either way the tank will be fine which ever one you do, as long as you do a good job.
If you have a good pump running the return from your sump back to your tank, you might be able to increase your water flow.
Blueline
Running The Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide Demo Tank we have a Blue Line 70. This is a very reliable, powerful pump, that we were not using to it’s fullest .
sump and pumps
However, when we opened up the valve from the Blue Line 70 to the main tank returns, the water level on the tank got high, as the water was not going over the overflows quickly enough. So what did we do? We went to our tool kit and got a file, and filed the overflows to widen the space between the plastic spacers. This increased the water flow. Now we were able to turn the valve open to the tank returns from the Blueline to allow more water to go back into the tank quicker, thus increasing our water flow.
Be careful not to knock out a large hole in your plastic overflow covers as this can cause excessive noise from the uneven rushing water. Another option to filing is drilling a hole or holes with a power drill and bit.
