# Perfect aquarium current?



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

How do you know when you have the perfect aquarium current, not too strong, not too weak?


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

I would say that's pretty subjective. It seems you would have to take into account things like fish and plant health, collection of detritus in the tank, etc. I'll use my tank for an example. I have kept a heavily planted tank with very little hardscape for quite a while. It's a 75 with a fluval 304 and 404 which was plenty of flow. I had good flow as far as I could tell in all areas of the tank, no collection of detritus anywhere and flora and fauna were both healthy. A couple of months ago I did a pretty big rescape and added a lot of wood. After a couple of weeks I noticed my carpet and mid ground plants not doing so well. I attributed it to changing lighting levels but I also noticed quite a bit of detritus collecting in areas of the tank so I added a couple of Koralia's and since then those plants have started to recover along with faster and denser growth of a couple of species in other areas of the tank. I realize it could possibly be due to some other reason but I attribute it to the increased flow. After adding the wood I think it blocked a lot of nutrient and CO2 rich water from getting to all the plants. Total flow in my tank is now somewhere in the 1000 gph area. In the past I'd have considered that much unnecessary for my size tank but now it seems just right.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

There are very few, if any, perfect setups in a planted tank. Almost all of the variables can be changed, and the plants and fish still do well. Water current in the tank is certainly one of those. If the high current is a circular one, around the whole tank, it can be pretty high without causing any problems, but if it is a concentrated blast straight across the tank, it can be much too much. A good current that ripples the water surface is good, unless you are using DIY CO2, where you can't tolerate the extra loss of CO2, but a good current down by the substrate can cause the substrate to migrate to one end of the tank, or dig holes down in the substrate. If you want a "river" tank, a high current is desirable, with appropriate fish, but if you want long finned placid fish, a high current would drive them batty.


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

This is what I'm using to prevent dead spots: http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11363

This is probably another thing that drove my betta batty, since the current flow was unpredictable to the betta.


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## majstor76 (Jun 11, 2010)

Current in aquarium should satisfy few needs:

-it should suit to the fish . So , no "river" for Angel fish
-it should satisfy plants. So, no leveling to the ground
-it should keep loses of co2 to minimum (no too much ripping of surface)
-it should move volume of water without too much dead corners
-it should not move gravel or dig holes
- it should be strong enough to not let detruis sink to bottom

Satisfying all these would produce perfect current


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