My powerhead keeps falling...

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visuvius

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Messages
22
Location
Huntington Beach, CA
I have a 20 gallon tank and 1 powerhead. The PH stays on the side of the tank with 4 small suction cups. Problem is, the suction cups keep unsticking themselves from the wall of the tank. It's never actually fallen to the floor, but usually the top 2 come off. This is a real pain in the ass and I was hoping someone could suggest some way to make the damn suction cups hold.

Thanks.
 
LOL, your frustration is showing ;)

One of the best methods I've seen is to silicone the powerhead to an algae magnet. I'ts kind of expensive, but they won't have to be replaced and it will hold ;)
 
What is the make of the PH. I know some PH's have alternate methods of hanging them on the glass.
 
Siliconed the sucker to a magnet, huh? Hey, I like that. :D

Normally what I do is epoxy the damn things to a long piece of plexi, and then shove the plexi in the gravel. The force of the powerhead blowing water keeps it pinned against the glass. I've actually suspended the things from the top of my tanks this way if I want them to point straight down.

You'd think the egg-heads that build these contraptions could build a long, U-shaped black piece of plexi that could simply hang over the side of your tank and yet allow you to adjust the depth of the powerhead down to a reasonable amount. Instead we get suction cups that insure you'll become an expert at digging sand out of the impellar with a pair of pliars when they fall bottom first into the substrate.
 
I jsut recently bought a PW 402... as far as I could see all the kits cam with an over the side hanging tool... It had a screw in the bag for different thickness of glass then it has ridges on the inside of the tank to set the proper height.... I have suction cups... but LFS sells good ones for $1.. so I always stock up.

Jc
 
It's a RIO. However, I think for the moment the crisis has been averted -- I did a minor LR move and the PH is now sort of propped up nicely. Hopefully it'll stay.
 
I have resorted to taping the cord to the back of my stand or tying up cords. Once you have undeepsandbedded your DSB because of a suction cup failure, you take precautions.
 
Ya i have to say I feel RIO's have bad luck with the small suction cups. At least the small RIO's.
 
I've had trouble with several brands. I don't chances anymore. The rubber seems to deteriorate over time.
 
I have resorted to taping the cord to the back of my stand or tying up cords

Same here. Square knot the stupid power cord around the top of my skimmer if I have to. "G'head, fall now you piece of junk!" Of course murphy's law dictates that will be the time a large turbo snail pushes it around so my Aquaclear 802 shoots straight into my sand bed from a range of 10 inches. Takes about 30seconds for one of those to move 50lbs of sand from one side of the tank to the other while my clownfish laughs at me.

The clamps that come with some power heads are fine----if you only want to agitate the surface. That's where the little plastic downward deflector comes in, and tends to solve this whole mess provided you have one. My personal favorite is when the outflow nozzle gets obstructed some how, and the normal venturi intake becomes a high pressure exhaust and blows about 10 gallons of water onto the carpet through the vinyl tube you left on by accident.
 
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