Powerheads

[FishyLady]

Can anyone recommend a powerhead that is reasonably priced, will move up to 1000-2000 gallons of water per hour, and quiet running.
I was looking for something that would also hold some floss, there are just SO many to choose from
so any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Val

[NancyD]

I have a Maxi Jet 1200 that I've used for 5 or 6 years. I wish I had placed a sponge prefilter on the intake, I have a lots of plants & snails that can block the flow. I could add 1 but I always forget...until I have to clean the darn intake when I notice the slower flow.

I've never seen a PH that has a place for any media

[FishyLady]

Thanks Nancy looked this one up and it gets good reviews. One guy says he uses it as an external water pump attached to other filters???? didn't understand what he has done. If I stick the suckers to the side of my tank would the water came out at front/up in the air or out the bottom? for some reason I'm finding these somewhat confusing.

Val

[NancyD]

Mine sucks water in at the bottom & shoots it out sideways. It is on the side of my tank toward the back corner with the flow going along the back wall. There a plastic hinged fan shaped diverter so you can aim the flow up or down a little but mine came off.

Oh, I forgot I have another PH, an Aqua Clear that you can attach a "Quick Filter" to. I use it to clear cloudy water from stirring up substrate gunk but it's too fine to use all the time I think. It's more expensive, can swivel & you can adjust the flow rate & reverse it. People sometimes use them on undergravel filters, the reverse flow would the push the water down under the plates & up through the gravel instead of drawing the water down through the gravel & up the lift tubes. I haven't used UGF in many many years & never tried RUGF, too much detritus gets trapped & now I have plants that would clog the plates.

I don't know how other people might use them, I'm confused when I read that too.

[FishyLady]

Thanks Nancy, I'll go and look up the aquaclear. What does RUGF stand for?

Val

[Diana]

RUGF:
Reverse Under Gravel Filter.
To aim the water flow into what is normally the up tubes of an under gravel filter. Water is spread out under the plates and flows up through the substrate. Goal: keeps debris out of the substrate and enhances the water flow so the gravel works at an enhanced rate as biological filtration.
I tried this on quite a few tanks. Debris always settled under the plates in the front corners. The PH pushes the water down at the back of the tank, generally in the corners. Most of the force of the water is gone before it goes even halfway across the tank, allowing the debris to settle through the substrate. Cleaning is pretty easy, though. Remove the intake from a gravel vac, or just use some vinyl tubing down the up tubes and suction out the debris.

PH as water moving device (w/o media): Look for Circulation Pump, something like the Hydor Koralia. A lot more water movement for the power used.

PH as filter: Some models can have some kind of media installed on the intake side. It will plug up pretty fast. I use the coarsest sponge I can find, just enough to keep bits of leaf out of the PH. Leaves can clog the intake. Even so, finer debris will get trapped and can stop the water flow.

PH with alternate installation:
See this article. You can add more complex filter media to the intake end of the PVC. To make it actually into enough to be a real filter it takes up a lot of room in the tank. I would prefer to add another external filter such as the appropriate sized Aquaclear filter (not the power head). This will add water movement and keep the tank more open for the fish.
https://www.loaches.com/articles/hillst ... -fast-lane

If you really want floss media filtration, I would not use a power head. You want a slower water flow over a larger area to allow the debris to stick to the floss. The faster the water flow the more debris gets knocked off the media. If you can spread out the water flow over a larger area then the debris is more likely to stay trapped. Again, an external filter that allows you to select your own media is better than a PH for filtration.

[NancyD]

Oh, couple more things Diana has reminded about. I have a smaller Koralia but, while it may move a good volume of water, the diffused output is not what I wanted. I have a "dead spot" I wanted to stir up so the filters could suck it in. The PH is better at that in a 4ft tank. I aim it slightly down toward the place detritus collects. I have 2 filters on all my tanks but lots of plants that can hinder the water movement in some areas.

A word of warning! I had a small young b. histrionica that would swim into the Maxi Jet output (against the flow) & stayed in there often. I knew that & would gently shake the PH before taking it out to clean to make sure he wasn't in there, usually his tail stuck out a bit. Then once while I was running the kitchen tapwater through the PH, out he came...& down the garbage disposal! I reached in & rescued him but between the trauma & bacteria he died a month or so later. After that I put a piece of plastic mesh over the outflow to keep that from ever happening again.

There's a similar story of small hillstream loach(es) swimming into a Koralia output & modifications done to prevent it. I "think" it's still on the LOL main site.

[Bas Pels]

Loaches do that. It must have been over 20 years ago, but I once saw a loach (don't remember what species) swim into the suction tube of an Eheim, so I opened the pot, remouving the substrate in order to see some 6 loaches, looking good by the way, in the pot.

[FishyLady]

Thanks for all the info guys. NancyD re: your loach down the garbage disposal I was changing the black sand substrate in an Ember Tetra tank, I was sure I had netted them all out (really easy with a large net) slow moving shoaling fish. I started to jug out the sand and remaining water and was pouring it slowly down the sink when a tiny ember tetra swam out with the water I was pouring and went straight down the plughole!! I figured he was in the U bend so I dashed outside and wrapped another net around the bottom of the drainpipe, poured some more water down the plughole and out he came into the net!!! Took net off drainpipe and put him in the tank with the other tetras, off he swam and seems none the worse thank goodness for his "journey"

Val

[NancyD]

That's 1 lucky fish!

[FishyLady]

Well after a LOT of reading and a lot of thinking I finally decided on on the Reef Surge 4000 Wavemaker. couldn't wait for it to come and try it in my tank. But the output was too diffused, SOOOO annoying. I hate it when I buy something that proves to be a waste of money and you still have the problem that you were trying to solve. Oh well, in the spare parts drawer and hope it will come in handy in a smaller tank.

[Bas Pels]

if the output is too diffuse, wouldn't it be an option to change the nozzle somewhat? Using a saw or something

[FishyLady]

Thank you for your reply but I am not sure how I could do that.

[NancyD]

Yeah, your wave maker is similar to the Koralia I have. I don't see a good way to modify it either. Not that it can't be useful in some situations...I'm using mine in a plant only grow out tank with no filtration ATM.

Can you return it?

[FishyLady]

It's such a nice little gadget, very small, like you I can't help thinking it will come in handy at some point so loathe to part with it.