Powerheads

[pengie]

Hi. I was looking into adding some power heads to my tank but do not know what size to get. I have a 125 gallon freshwater tank with live plants and the following fish: Boesemani Rainbows, Turquoise Rainbows, neon tetras, black ghost knife fish, clown loaches, bristle nose plecos, emerald cory catfish, bumblebee catfish, and kuhliis. I was thinking of adding 2 Hydor Koralia Evolution 850 Pumps. Will these be strong enough for my tank? Thank you for your help.

 

[jarrod0987]

It's not as easy as just saying a size because even with the same gallons per hour rating the different manufacturers will design different flow patterns that are more spread out or more focused. With a planted tank you would want the spread out kind so it is not a powerful current but still a lot of water turn over. 125 gal is a big tank so I might try looking at a quality brand Like Hydor or Tunze. I would email them and ask. I'm sure other members will have recommendations here too.

 

[gemach7]

Hi. I was looking into adding some power heads to my tank but do not know what size to get. I have a 125 gallon freshwater tank with live plants and the following fish: Boesemani Rainbows, Turquoise Rainbows, neon tetras, black ghost knife fish, clown loaches, bristle nose plecos, emerald cory catfish, bumblebee catfish, and kuhliis. I was thinking of adding 2 Hydor Koralia Evolution 850 Pumps. Will these be strong enough for my tank? Thank you for your help.

For freshwater you want to do 5-10x total water movement for each gallon of water. This includes your filter. For fish more adapted for slow moving Rivers and lakes you want 5x ie guppies being weak swimmers.

The flow should be unidirectional to mimic a river. Ie on the left side you have your filter in outlet. On the right side you have your filter out outlet and powerhead.

Off topic but your knife fish will grow over a foot and eat any small fish while they rest. Just a word of caution.


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[pengie]

Is the 5x per powerhead or is the combined total of all powerheads.


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[fishenthusiast]

Is the 5x per powerhead or is the combined total of all powerheads.


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The 5x to 10x GPH reference refers to the total flow in the tank. That can be from filters, powerheads, surface skimmers, UV sterilizers, etc.


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