Long Term planning for mixed reef including Nem

[sadams]

So this question is a bit broader than just an Anemone but kind of centers around Nem keeping.

Long term, I'd like my tank (210 dual overflow, reef ready) to house a bit of a mixed reef with some sort of BTA included. What I'm trying to get my head around is how to handle circulation. It seems I have two choices ( I think).

One being to run a higher volume of water through my sump, with a larg'ish return pump providing the vast majority of circulation, and my thought was via several Sea Swirls. All of this to keep the pumps away from the Nem.

Or option B, go with a lower flow pump/sump, and introduce circulation pumps into the aquarium (which I'm a bit hesitant/concerned to do) - wanting to stay away from disasters .

This was prompted by a recent discussion surrounding Sea Swirls and Nems (ThunderTwonk stated he was running). Just wondering if/how/what people are running in a mixed reef (whatever that means/how mixed it is?) with an Anemone.

Thanks for sharing any experience and insights!

 

[SynDen]

I have a mixed reef and run two jebao WP pumps in the tank. I made sure to place both well up from the rock work, so that if a nem does climb up the wall for some reason it would give me some time before it reached the pump. So far have not had a problem, but both nems have pretty much stayed where they are now for quite some time.
I think with option A, you may have a hard time really getting the right flow in the tank to support the many corals, so you would likely still have to supplement the flow some with another circ pump.
Option B I would say is the way to go, and as long as the pumps arent placed some where that a nem could easily climb on to and you keep the nem happy, via stable water and good light, it likely wont be a problem. But if you still concerned about it, I have heard of people using micromesh bags or foam pieces to cover the inlets and outlet of the pump while still allowing for flow. Have not tried that myself so someone else might have a better idea on how to do that.

 

[zombie]

Even better, you could do option C. This is definatley the most expensive option, but you could do 2 wp-40 or rw-15 one on each side and then do a sea swirl on a normal flow rate return positioned more toward the center of the tank.