Too much flow?

I think I have way too much flow on my tank. I have an Iwaki pump that pumps 1200gph on my 54 gallon corner. I have to keep it turned down because even with 2 drain pipes I start to flood the tank. I also think it killed my clown fish that I put in the tank. He looked like he was having a hard time swimming. I assumed that he would find a calmer spot in the tank, but he was gone the next morning. I think he might of become too worn out. Is that possible or am I just mistaken?

My corals seem to be fine, but I imagine they like the heavy flow, but I'd like to keep fish in it one day too.

 Can I have too much flow in my tank? I was thinking about buying a pump with less flow, would that be a good idea? THanks!

I push about 1800gph through my 65 and everything seems perfectly fine.

I really doubt your clown became too worn out. Fish can always find a calm spot in the rocks.

did you acclimate him? if so how?

I have a 1100gph return pump on a single sea swirl and a koralia magnum5 (1600gph) and I still am going to add more flow...adding a MP20 and set up a sweet whirlpool in the tank  That will be nearly 5000gph if I leave in the Koralia...which I am will decide once I get the MP20 in. Jake Adams this weekend convinced me that I cannot have too much flow outside of blowing the flesh off my LPS and that laminar flow (in a gyre preferably) is fine when placed at the top of the tank and the corals and rocks below will create the interference and change up the directions of the flow.

Doesn't the amount of flow through your sump also dictate how much water gets mechanically filtered and skimmed during a day?

It really all depends on how your sump is set up with bubble traps etc, also ideal flow through a refugium is less than 300 gph.  In a setup like this where the drains are an issue i'd much rather play it safe.
Generally is a bit cheaper to have a smaller return pump and run koralias which only use 6-15 watts rather than a large return pump.
That being said i have 4000 gph going though my sump, but is also six feet long and holds over 200 gallons.

dew2loud1 wrote: Focus on in tank flow, not high return flow from your sump.  I'd turn the return pump down and add a couple koralia's.  High flow through the sump is not beneficial.  You can easily do only 300 gph flow through to your sump and supplement with internal powerheads which are much easier to focus and provide much wider flow patterns.

This is how I have always believed you should do it.  With my system my return is only about 600-700gph in my 120g.   The slower flow allows the pods to reproduce quickly and also lets the skimmer filter more water before it moves out of the sump and back to the main tank. 
The flow in the main tank is provided by 4 - K4's which is around 4800gph + the returns

Bob, the amount of crap removed from my filter sock IS directly proportional to how much water runs over it. You may have a point with the skimmer though...but it will all get skimmed eventually at the skimmers rate.

thefu wrote: Bob, the amount of crap removed from my filter sock IS directly proportional to how much water runs over it. You may have a point with the skimmer though...but it will all get skimmed eventually at the skimmers rate.