Powerheads necessary?

[aluo18]

I recently bought the Marineland maxi jet 400. After doing further research, I came up with questions:

Should I have a timer for the powerhead?
Does it help water chemistry?
Do cichlids like moving water?
Should I get 2 for a 29 gallon, if so, how should I position them?
-if I only need one, how should I position the powerhead

 

[Niccobacci11]

Power heads are not nessecary and are usually used for a more natural look.
As for water chemistry I don't think it would have a major effect if any as it may prevent build up of dish poop and unbeaten food in areas so that the filter may suck it up but I don't think you will benefit greatly from it.
The flow will help,the cichlids look more active but they don't require a current.
Get as many as you want but not too much to blow the fish out of the water or make the fish struggle to stay in one spot. Just enough to keep them moving.,

 

[aquandrew]

yeah 106 gph isn't too much so just try one and see how they like them and then add more. putting them on a timer is a good idea, so they can rest at night without being blown around. they work great for keeping poop off the bottom, as mentioned, but you will need to clean your filter more often instead of siphoning the poop.

 

[aluo18]

The maxi jet is 400 rated for 110 gph, the recommendation is 10x the number of gallons for me. So mine would be 3000 gph I think....how many powerhead a should I buy?

 

[aquandrew]

The maxi jet is 400 rated for 110 gph, the recommendation is 10x the number of gallons for me. So mine would be 3000 gph I think....how many powerhead a should I buy?

you have a 300 gallon tank? 10x is what you want your filtration turnover. powerheads are just an extra form of stirring the water up and don't count towards the turnover imo

 

[T1KARMANN]

In my opinion power heads are a waste of time and money

You may as well have a internal filter it does the same job with added filtration

 

[BBradbury]

Powerheads

I recently bought the Marineland maxi jet 400. After doing further research, I came up with questions:

Should I have a timer for the powerhead?
Does it help water chemistry?
Do cichlids like moving water?
Should I get 2 for a 29 gallon, if so, how should I position them?
-if I only need one, how should I position the powerhead

Hello al...

The powerhead moves the surface of the water. It's useful as far as getting oxygen into the tank water and allowing carbon dioxide to escape (gas exchange). Your filtration system does this job too, in addition to removing a bit of the toxins in the tank water. So, I can't see the benefit to having a powerhead.

B

 

[T1KARMANN]

Hello al... The powerhead moves the surface of the water. It's useful as far as getting oxygen into the tank water and allowing carbon dioxide to escape (gas exchange). Your filtration system does this job too, in addition to removing a bit of the toxins in the tank water. So, I can't see the benefit to having a powerhead. B

Mmmmm same as a air stone and air pump then for less money

 

[BBradbury]

Powerheads

Mmmmm same as a air stone and air pump then for less money

Hello T1...

The powerhead would do a better job of aerating the tank water, because there's more surface movement than the air stone provides. If you want good water movement from the air pump, then remove the air stone and simply position the plastic tube at the bottom of the tank. The larger bubbles will provide a lot more surface movement than all the tiny bubbles and more oxygen gets mixed into the water and more carbon dioxide escapes.

The more surface movement, the more gas is exchanged.

B

 

[T1KARMANN]

Hello T1... The powerhead would do a better job of aerating the tank water, because there's more surface movement than the air stone provides. If you want good water movement from the air pump, then remove the air stone and simply position the plastic tube at the bottom of the tank. The larger bubbles will provide a lot more surface movement than all the tiny bubbles and more oxygen gets mixed into the water and more carbon dioxide escapes. The more surface movement, the more gas is exchanged. B

Or you could put a defuser on your internal or external filter then you get the best of both worlds

Everyone run a tank how they feel best or even just what looks right

I'm a hardcore tank turnover man

And in my old heavy stocked tank I turned the full 350 gal over 20 x per hour due to the big internal filters at each end pumping hard and hitting in the middle

Like this

http://youtu.be/ZzAhCqHJbzk

 

[aluo18]

I have slot left next to my filter...after this, I'm thinking about exchanging the powerhead for another filter. Any good filters that are $35 or less?

 

[BBradbury]

Tank filtration

I have slot left next to my filter...after this, I'm thinking about exchanging the powerhead for another filter. Any good filters that are $35 or less?

Hello again al...

I generally find you get what you pay for. If you don't pay much, most times you don't get much. Hagen has a good filter and if you check Amazon, you may get a good deal for the amount you can spend.

B

 

[T1KARMANN]

I think it all depends on what space you have then buy a filter to fit

The eheims I had are called power line great filters but a lot more than $35

The good thing with the power line is you can keep adding modules until you read the full tank dept I'm sure you can do the same with some other filter
This is great as the filter them also sucks rubbish from the tank base

 

[Bichir Bro]

I agree with T1, power heads 97.99% of the time are not needed unless you have a certain set up/species that needs it.

 

[Maridia]

A lot of people here are pretty much saying powerheads aren't necessary and useless for the most part. If this is truly the case, I have a powerhead in my 29gal with an airline because it's aesthetically pleasing and it's a treadmill for my fish, a somewhat river effect. Waste of money or not, I like them. It's called a hobby for a reason. You get some things you want and don't need, but you like them, and it's all good.