1077;63122 said:Im often troubled by the suggested flow rates for planted aquariums holding fishes as well as plant's.
Some suggest that for proper CO2 /nutrient dispersion, that up to 10 X the water volume in turnover is required.
I wonder how many fish species would appreciate this much current given that many would never see this much movement in the wild or average aquarium.
Have also become aware that for some,,fishes are almost after thought in planted aquaria, How sad.
I have seen photo's ,video's of tanks with Angelfish for example that fishes were actually listing at near 45 degrees due to flow throughout the tank.
The Flow never seems to be enough according to some to get proper CO2 through out the tank, How bout reducing plant mass ,pruning,trimming more often?
At what point are folks happy with growth? I cannot tell. What is minimum flow rate for desired growth?
Where do you think many of the fish live?
Rivers, Discus etc.....
We have a large volume and the Angels are massive and are all F2's now.
Never seen another tank.
They eat like pigs, my cardinals will pick my arm hair like Barbs.
Exercise against the current. With a decent design, there are places they can "rest", but fish are well designed to swim after all, and it takes much less energy to do so vs a land animal moving.
When they are active, they eat better and behave differently. Same for people, if you exercise, you are healthier and stronger.
I see no reason why this does not also extend to fish, dogs, cats, livestock etc.
This is not about extremes, however, good current is not about the most, the highest wattages etc.
Just some decent rippling and good current.
Hard to say what is optimal for a given tank, depends a lot on the fish, load, aquascape goal.
More open designs can withstand more current.
Dense thick Dutch scapes?
Not much.
Still, one can provide a good ripple along the surface even in such thickly planted tanks.
This tank had thicker growth etc, but moderate current.
Also had few fish.
I like plants, but also like fish, and I'd like to see them once in awhile.
Many of my scapes have tended to simplicity for this reason.
I can view the fish and enjoy watching a school swim against the currents.
Reminds me of swimming in streams/rivers as the fish go by.