Night mode (vortech pumps)

[Darthv247]

just wondering what peoples thoughts are on the night-mode feature of vortechs prop pumps. Ive been using the 10 hour night mode.

Is this bad to turn the flow down 50% at night or should the flow just be left running 24/7?

any negatives or positives to doing this ?

I was thinking it would be great for the fish and corals to have a break while they sleep/eat at night as well as let the night creatures be able to fully explore. but on the other hand i'm worried maybe it isn't enough flow for a 10 hour portion of the night.

 

[Faciosity]

I don't have personal experience with this, but from my view it would depend on what you have in the tank. Many LPS corals stick out large feeding and fighting tentacles at night, and lower flow might make it easier for them to do this. If you have more sps corals or any nps corals, I would think that they would want good amounts of flow even at night. Fish and corals can live in a bag for more than 10 hours with no flow at all, so I wouldn't think it would be detramental to them at all.

 

[Krish]

I never turned down or off any pumps at any time of the day or night. I ran everything at 100% 24/7. I didn't run a little bit of flow in any of my tank's either. The 38 gal I had had about 4,000 gph of flow and it didn't seem to bother anything. The fish found their spots they liked to sleep at night and I didn't have to worry about having a full night of limited flow where detritus could settle. Rather have everything circulating properly all of the time.

Just my personal preference.

 

[akunochi]

I use the night mode for 8 hours. I do this for my LPS which seem to respond better as well as my sleeping fish such as the wrasses because I run bare bottom. I don't think it is a huge deal regardless of whether you use it or not.

 

[Darthv247]

yah im kind of thinking it doesnt matter one way or the other. but i dont think it will really hurt anything because i will still have about 5kph flow with the pumps at 50 % power. but i do see an advantage for the lps and nocturnal life (pods etc). though I'm aiming at LPS and SPS for this tank. how is flow affected at night on the actual reefs ? i would imagine it gets a little less turbulent along the reef at night ? or am i completely wrong?

 

[akunochi]

That argument has been discussed before. Although the surface is calmer appearing at night the actual flow under the surface remains overall the same. The appearance comes from normally calmer wind conditions and such during the night