# Regulating flow



## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

is there any way to regulate or slow down the flow on coralife circulation pumps


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## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

If it's one of these guys:
Coralife Circulation Pump CP750 CP1300 CP2900 Powerheads coming

all you can do is grind down the propellor with a dremel tool or cover up some of the intake grates. They're not adjustable to my knowledge so there's no elegant way of varying flow.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

The skimmer pumps generally operate at optimal capacity, meaning a certain amount of flow to skim properly... You can slow down the flow by adding on a shut off valve from your local hardware or plumbing store, although this will or can make the pump run harder wasting more electricity and also longterm can damage the pump through overheating.

It will also look bad with a shut off valve on the intake of the skimmer, you could add a piece of foam in the intake strainer to slow down flow but may have to clean it regularly, may I ask why you want to slow down the flow on your skimmer?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

tang daddy said:


> The skimmer pumps generally operate at optimal capacity, meaning a certain amount of flow to skim properly... You can slow down the flow by adding on a shut off valve from your local hardware or plumbing store, although this will or can make the pump run harder wasting more electricity and also longterm can damage the pump through overheating.
> 
> It will also look bad with a shut off valve on the intake of the skimmer, you could add a piece of foam in the intake strainer to slow down flow but may have to clean it regularly, may I ask why you want to slow down the flow on your skimmer?


not on a skimmer, on a circulation pump :bigsmile:

my skimmer needs more flow :bigsmile:


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

spit.fire said:


> not on a skimmer, on a circulation pump :bigsmile:
> 
> my skimmer needs more flow :bigsmile:


My appologies, I don't know why I thought it was a skimmer...


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I wonder if its at all possible to use some sort of "dimmer switch" to throttle down the juice going to the pump. I'm not an electrical expert by any means...but just wondering. I'm sure there's some proper technical term for what I'm talking about.


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