Water flow questions

[snakeblitz33]

So after watching some documentaries on Netflix about the worlds reefs, I've come to the conclusion, after seeing this, that I am not providing the right flow rates, directionality, and patterns for my corals. I am personally appalled at my lack of dedication to this aspect of the hobby.
So, to help me improve, I would like an in depth discussion on this subject. Here are a few topics:
Return pump flow vs sump volume turnover
Return pump directionality
Powerhead placement for shimmer effects
Increasing surface flow for better o2 and redox potential
Tidal surges/dump buckets
High tech / high dollar powerheads effectiveness to provide real tidal currents
Low tech / low cost effective means of providing efficient flow rates
Purposes of maximizing water flow rates
Closed loop system potentials maybe combined with an oceans motions unit or whatever.
Flow rates through refugiums and scrubbers, the purpose of low flow rates
Using mass flow rates to decrease detritus build up in live rock
Acrylic , Spanko and flower, I know y'all have something to say. Lol.
Yes, I am getting ideas for an article later on, but I'm also designing a future tank of mine.

 

[acrylic51]

Seth........................................................................................................ I've been talking/preaching about the inefficiencies that all of us are guilty of....If you go back through my build thread you'll see I talk about some of those very subjects and provide links and information.....
Most of us have no clue as to efficiently employ are returns from our sumps....Meaning we waste energy.....The returns are there to move and keep detrious suspended in the water column long enough so it can be picked up by our overflows and removed in the sump or skimmer area.....Most of us use that flow to move our corals......Yes and wave patterns.......I'm not so caught up or following the whole "train of school" on surface flow....You could cover the top of your tank and still have good 02 exchange.....I could do the very same thing and pipe fresh air to the tank via the sump and have good 02 exchange.....I did a test years ago; actually in the early 90's with taking ORP readings.....I plumbed and air line to my sump using a air pump to push air into the sump.....You would be surprised how your ORP reading is influenced with a simple air pump.........
Powerheads placed for "shimmer affect"....Worthless.....Your tank inhabitants are not benefiting from the "shimmer affect". That is solely for our amusement or pleasure IMHO.......
Dump Buckets or Surge Tanks.....Neat concept and idea.....they work, but have draw backs and limitations for some.....Major issue is micro bubbles introduced into the DT.....And yes that is an issue regardless of design....Some do work better than others.....Salt creep is another issue, and noise can also be an issue......
The topic of flow rates through sump vs turn over rate.....That is a very debatable subject.....There is no correct or wrong answer....Solely is dependent on the system at hand....Some sumps that are built correctly can handle high flow rates and others aren't designed right or just aren't big enough to handle huge flow through them IMO.......There is no argument or debate on flow rate through a sump....Some will argue the flow rate needs to be slow, so the skimmer can process the water........BS!!!!!!! The skimmer will never process all the water that passes by it anyways, so theoretically it would make no difference if the flow was slow or fast.....That IMO is where recirc skimmers possibly gained some interested......