ac110 too much for 10 gal nano even after mods

seaduck · #1 07/31/2006, 03:20 PM

Aqua clear 110 turned out to be too much flow for 10 gal.... Common sense told me it wouldn't work but was hoping that after mods it would reduce flow to acceptable level.

MODS: 1. cut 3 of the 6 blades off of the impeller.
2 blocked over flow with spong that ran the entire length of
the opening.

The flow was reduced to approx. half that of the original but was still so striong it washed mushrooms off rocks and lifted others off the sand and up on top of other corals.....Also whipped frogspawn and torch corals so much that they closed up.

So. i put the cascade 100 back on and everything is back to normal. I bought a 30 gal extra high (24" high), which is twice as high as the 10 gal. The ac110 seems to be just about right for it.....Won't know till i put some corals in it tho.

wav3form · #2 07/31/2006, 05:55 PM

Did you install baffles like for the refugium mod? I have the AC110 on my 10 gal and with the baffles and flow set at the lowest, it's not near as violent as you're describing. When I get the cheato in there it should slow down a bit more as well. I haven't cut the impeller either. Maybe you need to do a few more mods to it.

shouldabenacowboy · #3 07/31/2006, 05:57 PM

I have an AC110 with my impeller mod on a 5.5g and have no problems with too much flow....where did you have the mushrooms placed?? Was sand/substrate blowing around??

SBC

cyenna · #4 08/01/2006, 12:44 AM

i had a 110 on my old ten and found it to be about the right amount of flow- could have probably even use an extra small powerhead too. I had sand, LR and chaeto in my 110, plus a sponge and a sissy looking baffle that wasn't siliconed well so all that probably helped slow the flow down. What does your rock work look like--that can help dispense the flow. If it's kicking up sand, try a coarser grain of sand on the top.

seaduck · #5 08/01/2006, 11:09 AM

I didnt use any baffles cause i needed the room for my fission nano skimmer. I prob have room for 1 baffle. The live sand is fairly fine. The mushrooms, one of which is 4", are on the sand. It picked up the 4" one and pushed it up into my frogspawn. My current filter cascade 100 is whimpy but everyone in the tank is happy with the flow and doing great. I just didn't want to rock their world to make ME happy. The ac110 is doing just great on my 30 extra high so i'm gonna leave it there. The main reason i wanted the 110 on my 10 nano was to place the skimmer in the fuge to get it out of the tank. I'll just hafta live with the micro bubbles and less room.

Pico Keeper · #6 08/01/2006, 05:42 PM

I have a 5.5 with an ac110 (500) and its got 3 blades clipped.. I also have no problem with flow. It does have baffles though.

Also a simpler way to solve your microbubble problem is to just get rid of the Nano skimmer.. That thing is garbage anyway, and is pointless on a 10 gallon tank. Skimmers are for bigger tanks, not little ones... just do water changes, if you do some research on here, I think you'll find this is the general consensus amongst reefers and its been proven many times over the years with lots of people.

skylsdale · #7 08/02/2006, 10:23 AM

I had a 110 on a 10 gal without any mods...and I still ended up adding a powerhead because there wasn't enough flow.

seaduck · #8 08/02/2006, 11:02 AM

Yea, this fission is a P.O.S. I blows out micro bubbles all over the tank. It does skim pretty good though. I cut a small styrofoam coffee cup in half and stuffed a 1/4 piece of paper towl inside it and then put it upside down on top of the skimmer so it catches the excess foam coming out of the top. I have to change the paper daily as its covered with brown stuff. Im sure the ac110 would have worked for me if i had started with it and built the reef around it. Going from a cascade 100 to a ac 110 was too much of a change for the existing reef inhabitants.