Is too much circulation bad for plants?..

[Catfish Lover]

I have 55 gallon moderately planted aquarium that with a fluval c4 hob filter. I just added a hydor Koralia 240 powerhead because I thought I had too many dead spots leading to slow growth. Some of my Vals are blowing over a little from the powerhead. Just wondering if this will damage the leaf/plant causing it to die. This little powerhead is pretty powerful. I actually have the 425 being delivered for my other 55 and think it may too much current. By the way my serpae tetras seemed a little scared at first but are now swimming by near the powerhead which leads me to believe it's not too powerful for them.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Some flow is good. As long as they don't seem to get torn up or bending a lot, they should be fine. Some movement won't hurt them.

 

[mrvincent]

Maybe the koralia nano 240 is ok for a 55g.

Do you dose ferts ? What's your light fixture ? How much watts ? T5HO or T8 ? Do you dose CO2 ? What's all the plants you have ?

Vals are made to go in rivers but that don't mean they will be happy in front of a powerfull powerhead.

 

[BBradbury]

Surface Aeration

I have 55 gallon moderately planted aquarium that with a fluval c4 hob filter. I just added a hydor Koralia 240 powerhead because I thought I had too many dead spots leading to slow growth. Some of my Vals are blowing over a little from the powerhead. Just wondering if this will damage the leaf/plant causing it to die. This little powerhead is pretty powerful. I actually have the 425 being delivered for my other 55 and think it may too much current. By the way my serpae tetras seemed a little scared at first but are now swimming by near the powerhead which leads me to believe it's not too powerful for them.

Hello Cat...

If you have a lot of movement on the surface of a tank, you'll have a lot of oxygen mixed in the tank water. Oxygen is a byproduct of your plants, they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. So, your plants don't like a high oxygen environment. A good producing filter system will turn over four times the volume of your tank. With large, frequent water changes, you really don't need more than that. However, if you're not such a good water changer, then overfiltering your tank will help a little to keep the water pure. But, the filtration system is really only taking in toxic water and returning water that's a little less toxic.

Hope this helps.

B

 

[Catfish Lover]

Some flow is good. As long as they don't seem to get torn up or bending a lot, they should be fine. Some movement won't hurt them.

Well I have a lot of jungle vals and some are bending as their is no way I can completely position the powerhead to avoid them. I wouldn't say it's like a tornado or anything like that though

 

[Catfish Lover]

Hello Cat...

If you have a lot of movement on the surface of a tank, you'll have a lot of oxygen mixed in the tank water. Oxygen is a byproduct of your plants, they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. So, your plants don't like a high oxygen environment. A good producing filter system will turn over four times the volume of your tank. With large, frequent water changes, you really don't need more than that. However, if you're not such a good water changer, then overfiltering your tank will help a little to keep the water pure. But, the filtration system is really only taking in toxic water and returning water that's a little less toxic.

Hope this helps.

B

I have the powerhead pointed at a downwards angle so it's not aimed at the surface. I hope that helps. I also have the filter baffled with water bottle to minimize surface movement.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Well I have a lot of jungle vals and some are bending as their is no way I can completely position the powerhead to avoid them. I wouldn't say it's like a tornado or anything like that though

Would it be possible to aim the powerhead at the front of the tank? That way the water bounces off the front glass and I would assume (never owning a powerhead) the flow would be baffled a bit then.

 

[Catfish Lover]

Maybe the koralia nano 240 is ok for a 55g.

Do you dose ferts ? What's your light fixture ? How much watts ? T5HO or T8 ? Do you dose CO2 ? What's all the plants you have ?

Vals are made to go in rivers but that don't mean they will be happy in front of a powerfull powerhead.

I'm running a dual T5 NO... No co2 and yes I dose seachem flourish twice weekly and have some root tabs under my crypts, sword and some of the vals. Lights are on 7 and a half hours a day.

 

[Catfish Lover]

Would it be possible to aim the powerhead at the front of the tank? That way the water bounces off the front glass and I would assume (never owning a powerhead) the flow would be baffled a bit then.

Yeah I think I could do that. I'll give that a try. How much would that affect my circulation though?

 

[Catfish Lover]

Would it be possible to aim the powerhead at the front of the tank? That way the water bounces off the front glass and I would assume (never owning a powerhead) the flow would be baffled a bit then.

That worked perfectly scottyhorse! I put powerhead on the back middle of tank so it's aimed at front of tank. It gives the plants nice gentle sway.

 

[Kuddos 2 U]

I would say that it depends on the plants themselves. Study more about the kinds of plants you have because if it was me, I wouldn't want a planted aquarium whirlpool as an aquarium no would I? This happened to me when I bought a powerhead rated for 40g or higher and I put it inside a 10g tank after I bought it. It looked exactly how I mentioned it above, fish were swimming until they became exhausted, plants looked weird. It reminded me of a blender and so I decided to return it and used a fountain pump with a spray bar instead.

 

[Mebbid]

I would say the golden amount of flow for a planted tank is 10x the tank volume per hour. This will help keep dead spots from forming while allowing ferts and carbon to circulate thoroughly.

 

[trinifella]

Too much is much better than too little, that's for sure