Tried to add a new powerhead last night

Hi guys!! This sounds like a whiny forum to me. Anyway, I have a wet/dry running a cap 2200 pump in my 55 gallon. I made my own spraybar that runs from the top of my tank to the bottom in one corner. It has 5 holes that spray water all along the back wall. All five of my 3 inch rbp love to just sit against the back wall and try to stay still in the current. That's all I have. Back to the whining...

I have several power heads in my 240 and the reason why is not so they can swim in the current. It's because my tank was built with a 18" piece of 1/2" glass in the top middle f the tank.

Since it is there , I cannot put filter returns or anything there. So the water was just sitting there and all the waste was hanging out there.

So I put the power heads in the middle of my tank to move the water from the middle to the sides so it can be cleaned.

MAD

Judazzz said:

I think all you can do is make recommendations (and I think that was what Nate did, although he could have stated it more strongly) about the gph-to-tanksize ratio, based on your own experiences. I believe any experienced piranha owner (and I view you as an experienced piranha keeper, Jeff) should know that information from hobby sites like Nate's or my own shoud be seen as based on personal experience, because we simply lack the tools and skills to make and back up scientific statements. Info you find on sites like that should be read/accepted with precaution, imo, but it should also be stated on the website itself.

Just my 2 cents.... :smile:

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Jonas,
I totally agree with you, that was not my complaint. I know that all fish and setups are individualistic and changes will be accepted differently. What irritated me was nates statement that 900 gph was "way to much". Like how could I possibility think putting a power head with that much output could work, when he has made earlier statements to the contrary. If my fish end up not liking it, no big, I will take it out. I have tried things that have worked for some and have not worked for my fish, I expect this because every situation is different. My new plan is to split the flow using PVC piping.

Nate,
You know that two 500 gph power heads create a wider flow but still have a gph of 500 in the tank. This being said, to get your recommended gph with multiple power heads you need to use two 800 gph power heads. I dont understand what you mean by getting 900 gph by using multiple power heads, you explanation of FLUX contradicts this. Please explain.

Sir Nathan XXI said:

chill man, you must have skipped over the part where I say using two powerheads to make 600-1000

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A common misbelief is that multiple of the same pump will increase the gph current felt by your fish. This is wrong, lets introduce a term called "FLUX" it means the amount of flow something has. Multiple pumps will increase the FLUX but not the power of your current. So in plain terms multiple 600gph pumps will give you 600gph but a wider current that a single pump. Very wide tanks may want to go with 2 pumps spread slightly apart at 1/3 the width and 2/3 the width of the tank so that they are equidistant from the edge of the tank and each other

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This is what I am refering too, exactly how am I supposed to get 600-1000 gph using multiple power heads?

you are right, those readings are for one pumps rating, but I have since learned my fish like it cut back some, they used to have current that strong, like you said all fish are different, I guess you just need to give them a few weeks to get used to it though, what i was try to say by too much is that they may need time to work up to that much current in the tank, an example would be you cannot expect an anverage Joe to get up off the couch and win a marathon right? Well they need to work themselves into shape

I agree with you, and I had no idea how much power 900 gph actually was. I plan to construct something with pvc to split the flow and widen it. I think this will cut it back enough for them.

I am pretty sure all you need to do is attach a piece of 1" pvc to it, that should spread it out. Recently I was think that my current was to strong so I took of those return nozzles that come with predrilled tanks, and its just a 3/4" pvc pipe now and it is no where near as strong, It reduces the pressure by using a bigger opening

I hear ya, but I want to spread it out a little more than that. I am thinking of something like this:
-< , should reduce the flow and widen the path.

ok, I would use 3/4" if I were you then