help with my new powerhead

[misskeeter2766]

I bought a powerhead to increase oxygen in my QT tank since my fish will arrive tomorrow... I am keeping them in QT for 6 weeks before adding them to my nano.. learned my ich lesson the hard way...

anyway... its a rio 50 powerhead.. and it apparently comes with no instructions... seeing as I've never set up a powerhead, I have NO idea how to install it.. other than putting it under the water and plugging it in.. I managed to get the suction cups on, but it comes with a bunch of parts that Im not sure where to put...

I can take a picture if I need to... but can anyone help tell me WHAT parts to use.. and WHERE???

I feel so stupid.. and Im great with stuff like this... but I usually have directions to follow...

 

[neilanh]

Never used a Rio, but the maxijets come with lots of parts too. If it's like that, they're options for different ways to direct/control the flow.

Make sure you have a strainer on the intake (to ensure no large debris gets in and jams the pump) and that's all you need.

 

[misskeeter2766]

I dont even know where the intake is... LOL.. looks like it has one hole... and that's it... the only strainer attachment is one for an undergravel filter...

 

[misskeeter2766]

I tried putting it together using a small tube that fit in the hole.. was the only one that fit... and I put the duck bill looking thing on the end of it... put it under water, plugged it in.. and it went "shhhhhhh"......... "shhhhhhh"..... and bubbles came out.. but that was it... I was thinking maybe I needed to take off one of the two plug type things on the small tube, but there is nothing to put over them.. one of them leaves a teeny hole.. the other leaves a big giant hole...
why are there no directions???

 

[neilanh]

Ok, I searched, I see what you got.

Alright, so in this pic the 2 accessories right in front of the pump are hose barb connectors for if you want to hook this up to any tubing. It looks like there's 2 different sized barbs to connect to 2 different sized hoses.

In the back, closest to the pump is a valve that will allow you to squelch the output. If its producing too much flow, you can put this on the outlet and turn it down, basically.

The last one is just a flat outlet. If you wanted to disperse the water coming out of the pump into a wider stream, rather than a small powerful one, you can use that.

 

[neilanh]

when you put the pump in the water, turn it around a few times and try to let the air escape. the "shhhhhhh"......... "shhhhhhh"..... noises was the pump impeller crunching on the trapped air.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ignore the teeny hole and leave it open. That is to be used with the little tube with the duckbill thing if you want to add bubble to your water. You route the tube up above the surface of the water, and it draws air into the water stream. Not useful with saltwater tanks.

All you need to do is put it under water and plug it in. Water will come jetting out one of the holes. The other hole is the one you should put the strainer on to keep things from getting sucked up into the powerhead.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ahhh... never mind. Neilan has you covered! I was thinking it was like a MaxiJet - sorry about that.

 

[misskeeter2766]

lol... mine came with way more than that... LOL... okay.. I'll try it again...

be back if I need more help... (already took pictures and was coming to put them up.. will try this first though)

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay... I guess it's working.. but it doesnt seem like much flow... lol..

thanks for the help... I may be back... still cant figure out where it is sucking in the water... I held my hand all around it

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Here's a link to the instruction booklet for the thing:

http://www.riopump.net/installation%20folder/Rio%20instruction%20booklet.pdf

And looks like here's all the stuff that came with?

Basically... all you need to do is drop it in the water and plug it in. Use parts "C", "D", and "A" to direct the output however you want. Part "H" is that tube I mentioned in my previous post that hooks up to the hole in "C". You don't need "H". The "strainer" we were talking about is built into the housing, so just ignore our previous mention of an intake strainer.

(PS... The Rio 50 is only rated at 69 gallons/hour. That's hardly any flow, so it doesn't surprise me that you can't feel much coming out. The water is coming in through that part called "Main Housing Strainer".

 

[misskeeter2766]

ah.... you are a lifesaver..
thank you..

its just a little 10 gallon tank... no substrate... the powerhead was just for some extra oxygen in the the water to keep the fish as "unstressed" as possible...

will this little powerhead at least help with that?
there's a hang on back filter running as well.

 

[ryshark]

ah.... you are a lifesaver..
thank you..

its just a little 10 gallon tank... no substrate... the powerhead was just for some extra oxygen in the the water to keep the fish as "unstressed" as possible...

will this little powerhead at least help with that?
there's a hang on back filter running as well.

I didn't read through this entire thread, but yes it will help add oxygen into the water. If possible angle it up to see if it will ripple the surface of the water. Its probably not needed on a QT tank that small, however, it won't hurt.

 

[ryshark]

I forgot to mention. I have had a small Rio before... I used to use it as a pump for my Auto Topoff. On the "C" attachment piece, if you are using the larger one whith that nipple sticking out the top, then put the little black rubber cap thing which comes with it, on the nipple to block off water from sneaking out of it. This may help you get a little bit stronger flow. But as Kurt said its only rated at 69-gph, which is not much.
Or you can use A and you won't need B, C, D, F, G and H.... unless A plugs into the small C. I can't remember on that.

 

[misskeeter2766]

A plugs into C... cant use it without C...

that's what I have on there now.. angled up toward the surface.. and I removed the larger stopper.. so water actually comes out both places.. straight up at the surface through the round hole, and out front from the duck bill..