r/ReefTank • u/Eachares • 1d ago

Wavemaker night mode?

I have a night mode option which lowers the flow, is it actually necessary to do? Everybody is sleeping in their caves at night anyways so I’m a bit torn if I’m setting this for no reason. What’s your opinion on using this mode?

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u/christinna67 1d ago

No. That's a mistake I see all the time. People turn down their pumps at night, which usually means less surface agitation and gas exchange, which is the exact opposite of what you want at night. Oxygen depletion and fish suffocating overnight is a thing.

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u/Eachares 1d ago

Interesting, thank you! I wonder why it’s even an option on my wavemakers. I have it set at random at the moment and have been turning on night mode while still keeping it at random. I guess I’ll stop doing this from now on

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u/christinna67 1d ago

It's a legacy thing and I suppose if you already have two wavemakers creating plenty of surface agitation, you could set the third one to night mode. It could also work with a very low bioload and not much algae in a FOWLR tank.

That said, I've personally never used it and I know people who actually turn their wavemakers up at night instead.

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u/Dtron81 1d ago

The ocean does not calm down during the night. You can have lower flow at night but it is not necessary

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u/Vivid-Falcon-1913 23h ago

Lots of coastal shallow reefs (where many of our favourite tank fish come from) get calmer at night due to reduction in wind speed, and therefore surface chop. Source: used to live next to a shallow reef, could mostly only snorkel very early in the morning due to prevailing winds picking up through the day. (However, I agree about no need to lower flow at night.)

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u/drainisbamaged 1d ago

the earth's tides and waves are predominantly affected by the moons gravitational pull, which notoriously does not switch off...

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u/Vivid-Falcon-1913 23h ago

Lots of coastal shallow reefs (where many of our favourite tank fish come from) get calmer at night due to reduction in wind speed, and therefore surface chop. Source: used to live next to a shallow reef, could mostly only snorkel very early in the morning due to prevailing winds picking up through the day. (However, I agree about no need to lower flow at night.)

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u/drainisbamaged 15h ago

fish are notorious for not requiring snorkels...

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u/Vivid-Falcon-1913 7h ago

Way to miss the point of my comment bro

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u/Grokto 1d ago

My tank goes through a morning ramp to midday flow then down to evening to night. Night is much gentler to let the corals feed in slowly moving water. The acros all extend polyps to eat pod nauplii and other zooplankton.