power head/water circulation

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Kevccoy

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Messages
95
I am looking to get a pump of some sort to get the water circulating in my tank, I know a power head is used with an under gravel filter, what can I use without an under gravel filter...sorry for such a NOOB question, but hey, gotta learn somewhere..
 
What size tank and what fish do you have in it? Some fish wont do well with added water movement. I'm planning on putting a powerhead or two in my 150g mbuna setup and will be going with koralia powerheads. They come highly recommended in the saltwater world, where dependable powerheads are pretty much a must. And powerheads aren't made just for UGF's, so there's no concern with just using a powerhead alone ;)
 
right now i have 2 pleco's (gold nugget and common), gold gourami, dwarf blue gourami, some albino cory's, and not sure what the other one is, wife picked them up at Petco when they were $1 each. it is a 75 gallon tank.
 
i have an emporer 400 and hoping to get another one, or maybe a penguin.
 
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but my question is related and might be usefull to the OP...

If a powerhead is not being used with a UGF, what do you put over the intake to prevent fish from getting sucked up against them? I have fancy goldfish with long fins, and would like to prevent fin damage.

Also, do you just lay the powerhead on the gravel? Or attach it to something, somehow? (I have two powerheads that I would like to put to use, but these questions have slowed the process...)
 
A small sponge will work, although a goldfish should have no problem swimming in the strength of a small powerhead.

You mount them to the aquarium glass.
 
Large goldfish with long fins combined with a strong powerhead equals problems, no matter how healthy the fish. I know this does not make sense to most people, but if you have ever kept these fish, you know what I am talking about. I recently took both powerheads out of my tank, because one tilted just a bit off the riser tube and opened up a small gap between the intake of the powerhead and the riser tube. Sure enough, as I was getting ready to get in there and fix it, one of my fish got her belly too close. She pulled herself loose quickly, but she lost a few scales. I can only hope that she did not get damaged internally.

When it comes to mounting a powerhead to the glass, are there brackets (or something) sold for this purpose? If I do put one back in, with a sponge over the intake, I would like to be able to move it to a new location periodically.
 
Nevermind, I found some brackets online, including some magnetic ones that will work nicely...thanks anyway!
 
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