rotating powerhead

[wookie903]

Has anyone got any advice on some good rotating powerheads. I was thinking about putting a few of these in my tank to prevent having any calm spots in my tank. I currently have two Maxi Jet MP 900 power heads, but after reading some of the other post I realized that these may not be doing a good enough job.

 

[fishfreek]

Just stay away from the ZooMed Powersweeps.

 

[wookie903]

Who else makes a rotating power head? I have only seen ZooMed Powersweeps.

 

[possum]

Whats wrong with the zoomed powerheads? I was thinking about getting one but i dont want to if they are no good.

 

[fishfreek]

The ones I have had and the ones that others have had that have posted on various forums have found them to not output the GPH that they say they do (or atleast appear not to) and the ones I have had seem to stop their rotation on the head after a few weeks/months.

The way the system works is there is an impeller inside that spins with the power of the water flowing thru the PH. This turns a shaft that moves the head left and right. the pressure of doing this also seems to knock down the flow rate of the ph overall and I have found the side to side motion jams or becomes stationary after a period of time. THen taking the PH apart and cleaning the mechanism sometimes helps.

 

[possum]

Well i have seen some rotating thingies that you can add on to a powerhead i wonder if they would also jam and/or slow down the rate of flow. Anyways i will probably just go with a regular powerhead. thanks!

 

[wookie903]

Thanks fishfreek, I think my next solution would be some small submersable pumps toward the bottome of the tank with rotating tubes on them. Seems like there is always some part of the tank that has dead water in it.

 

[loganj]

Probably the best solution to this problem is to run a wavemaker. That way, you can have several powerheads that come on and off at different intervals creating different currents in the tank. Red Sea makes a good one. A budget model is the Natural Wave powerstrip. You can't beat Maxi Jet powerheads...they are the best.