[marciemp]

I have 3 powerheads in my tank for water movement. A couple of weeks ago I found a Chromis sucked to the intake dead, I thought he probably died and then got sucked in. Then a few days ago I found a shrimp sucked to a different powerhead, he was really stuck to it. The Chromis were new and we lost all of them but the shrimp have been in the tank for a while and were all doing very well. I notice the shrimp swim around the tank alot at night and I worry that more will be sucked in. Tonight I noticed 3 peppermint shrimp hanging out on the powerhead, which worried me, and our tiny red starfish keeps finding it's way onto the glass, and i worry about her getting sucked in too (All of the rocks are away from the glass so I have no idea how she gets on, I guess across the sand, or by reaching very far). I also notice occasionally a snail will be on a powerhead near the intake, so i worry about them too.

The powerheads are set up so the water flows out the bottom, and they all have guards on the bottoms, but I realised after I had to pick the shrimp off the powerhead that the water sucks in around the "neck" of the powerhead, and that the suction is quite strong, strong enough to suck an unsuspecting creature to it and kill it. I do have them set on the highest flow, should I turn them down? Why don't they intakes have guards? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,
Marcie

[glampka]

Marcie,
The flow is coming out the bottom?? It sounds like they are running in reverse. The water should be flowing out the smaller opening. Most ph have a tapered "screened" intake that fit into the uplift tubes of undergravel filters. You can take a short piece of 1" tubing, drill a few holes in it & use that as a guard or you can get sponge filters designed to act as guards. You will have to clean the sponges every few days as they will act as a filter as well.
What powerheads do you have?

[marciemp]

I will have to check on the brands. One is an Aquapro 70 or something like that. The sides of all 3 have little diagrams on how they work, and they show having the switch slid to green makes the water flow out the bottom and having it switched to red makes it flow out the front, in a little tube that sticks out about 3/4 of and inch. If I set them so they flow out the front it seems to have so much force the clown fish have a hard time swimming, so I set them so they flow down.

Seems like the water sucks in around the neck, not the tube at the front but a little area that has openings (liitle grooves) that go all the way around the neck. Having a hard time explaining it. Then the water flows out the bottom. The other way to set it is to have the water flowing out the smaller opening on the front, but then it flows so hard. I will go and have a look again since it is all a bit hard to describe.
Thanks Glampka

[glampka]

I would reverse the flow so that it comes out the front. Those powerheads were designed to make undergravel filters work in a reverse mode. Bounce the flow off the glass - clowns like to play in the current. If the flow seems to be too much & is blowing everything around in the tank you can usually dial them down.

[marciemp]

So if I make the flow go out the front, it will suck in through the bottom? There are guards on the bottoms so that would be OK. The other two PH's are called Powerhead 802, that's all they say. I actually never tried them going out the front in this tank, it was in the smaller tank they seemed to strong., maybe it would be OK in this bigger tank.
Thanks again

[glampka]

The 802s are probably the Aquaclear 802 powerhead. If the water is coming out the front it will be sucked in through the bottom. Fish/shrimp, etc can still get caught up against the guards (not too likely though). You could take a short piece of 1" tube & drill a few holes in it & put the ph into that for further protection or you can get the sponge filters but be sure to clean them every few days since they will act like a mechanical filter.

[marciemp]

Glampka,
switched my PH around so they are now sucking in at the bottom and blowing out at the top and it seems much better. The flow is fine, I guess it was just too strong in the smaller tank. The bottoms have double gourds on them, and the guards are big with very small openings so i don't have to worry about anyone being sucked in. My peppermint shrimp always hung out on the PH's at night, and they still do just higher up, and now I don't have to worry about them getting sucked up. Thanks

[dori9941]

Originally Posted by glampka

The 802s are probably the Aquaclear 802 powerhead. If the water is coming out the front it will be sucked in through the bottom. Fish/shrimp, etc can still get caught up against the guards (not too likely though). You could take a short piece of 1" tube & drill a few holes in it & put the ph into that for further protection or you can get the sponge filters but be sure to clean them every few days since they will act like a mechanical filter.

Those sponges work well. my power head stoped today and i don't know why. I hope u can fix u'r problem and am sorry u lost fish. best hopes

[pogodzib]

Glad to hear that you got the flow turned around the correct way so the water shoots out the front.

FYI - Most people with reef tanks try to have a water flow rate in their tank of anywhere between 10x per hour (for a softy tank) to 50x per hour (for a SPS tank). A Aquaclear 802 powerhead only flows about 400 gph, which means that many people with SPS tanks would try to obtain that much flow for every 8-10 gals of water.