Moving a PowerHead

I added another powerhead to a tank, and my skimmer filled up in a
fraction of the time. :-)

This one doesn't have a very powerful jet, but rated at 800 gph. I'm
thinking that I should just start moving it around, so I flush the
detritus of the rocks (or where ever it's hiding).

Is this just a expert trick that this 1 yr still learning newbie
stumbled on?

--Kurt

On Nov 30, 6:29 am, KurtG wrote:
I added another powerhead to a tank, and my skimmer filled up in a
fraction of the time. :-)

This one doesn't have a very powerful jet, but rated at 800 gph. I'm
thinking that I should just start moving it around, so I flush the
detritus of the rocks (or where ever it's hiding).

Is this just a expert trick that this 1 yr still learning newbie
stumbled on?

--Kurt

it may be fine where it is. unless you have alot of cyano bacteria or
green slime or brown hair growing in a certain part of your tank on
the rocks/glass/ or equipment. If not, then i would aim it up to the
surface of the water so that it has a churning effect for better CO2
exchange where the extra introduced circulation will still keep the
water in good order by controlling ph, and the bacteria can handle all
the detritus on the rocks and substrate now that you have improved
your circulation over them in general. Im assuming you had alot of
dead spots in your tank circulation before, and now its moving much
better. IF you aim it to the top you wont disturb your substrate too
much allowing it to heal up nicely with good stuff, but if you have a
bunch of algae on it, its best to aim the pump near that algae until
it reduces.

Aiming the powerhead at the sand also helps solidify
the sand. :-)

Wayne Sallee




wolfdogg wrote on 12/1/2007 12:19 PM:
On Nov 30, 6:29 am, KurtG wrote:
I added another powerhead to a tank, and my skimmer filled up in a
fraction of the time. :-)

This one doesn't have a very powerful jet, but rated at 800 gph. I'm
thinking that I should just start moving it around, so I flush the
detritus of the rocks (or where ever it's hiding).

Is this just a expert trick that this 1 yr still learning newbie
stumbled on?

--Kurt

it may be fine where it is. unless you have alot of cyano bacteria or
green slime or brown hair growing in a certain part of your tank on
the rocks/glass/ or equipment. If not, then i would aim it up to the
surface of the water so that it has a churning effect for better CO2
exchange where the extra introduced circulation will still keep the
water in good order by controlling ph, and the bacteria can handle all
the detritus on the rocks and substrate now that you have improved
your circulation over them in general. Im assuming you had alot of
dead spots in your tank circulation before, and now its moving much
better. IF you aim it to the top you wont disturb your substrate too
much allowing it to heal up nicely with good stuff, but if you have a
bunch of algae on it, its best to aim the pump near that algae until
it reduces.

wolfdogg wrote:
it may be fine where it is. unless you have alot of cyano bacteria or
green slime or brown hair growing in a certain part of your tank on
the rocks/glass/ or equipment. I

No, it's been clean of any cyano for at least 6 months. Zip on Nitrates
and phosphates.

As for dead spots, it's possible. That's why I added two extra-power
heads, but I didn't expect the skimmer to work over time.

I'm just letting things settle down again, but if I get extra time
(ha!), I'll move it around for a night at time.

--Kurt

KurtG wrote on 12/1/2007 4:45 PM:
As for dead spots, it's possible. That's why I added two extra-power
heads,

FODS Syndrome. The fear of dead spots is overrated.

Wayne Sallee

Wayne Sallee wrote:
FODS Syndrome. The fear of dead spots is overrated.



Live rock is a dead spot. I'm sure I still have big sections that get
no current at all.

I mainly added the powerheads to keep the currents more random. I have
some of the currents pointed at each other, and they are putting more
current on the H. Magnifica which is up to a foot across now when inflated.

--Kurt

Yeah, you want ALOT of current flow, this way everything in your tank
gets a steady flow of food over them. And, if you have enough current
power(enough powerheads with enough flow in them) then you can afford
to aim them to skim across the top of the surface just enough to NOT
soak the entire canopy and cause water damage to anything, which will
control PH by getting all the CO2 out of the water which brings in
fresh oxygen at the same time. You need good CO2 exchange, and the
more animal load, the more surface agitation you need. Surface
agitation is the only way CO2 escapes out of the tank, and the PH is
directly related to the amount of CO2 in the water. If you get ALL,
or almost all the CO2 out of the water, then the PH will reflect the
natural state of the water conditions, but if you don't have enough
surface agitation, the PH will reflect simply CO2 problems and the
creatures will almost always be stressed under those types of
conditions. Essentially, you want to be sure your PH is reflecting
itself in a water column that has a healthy gas exchange, thats why
its good to have enough powerheads to reduce as many dead spots as
possible. At the same time, churning at the surface whenever possible
has the effect of keeping the water clean and spotless on the surface,
carries all the floating junk down into the bacteria filtration chain,
and allows more light to shine thru to the animals due to a clean
surface, instead of reflecting it back away from the tank.

So that is the best way to take advantage of good circulation once
algae problems are gone.

And the ph will also reflect the co2 content of the
air in the room.

Wayne Sallee



wolfdogg wrote on 12/4/2007 12:50 PM:
Yeah, you want ALOT of current flow, this way everything in your tank
gets a steady flow of food over them. And, if you have enough current
power(enough powerheads with enough flow in them) then you can afford
to aim them to skim across the top of the surface just enough to NOT
soak the entire canopy and cause water damage to anything, which will
control PH by getting all the CO2 out of the water which brings in
fresh oxygen at the same time. You need good CO2 exchange, and the
more animal load, the more surface agitation you need. Surface
agitation is the only way CO2 escapes out of the tank, and the PH is
directly related to the amount of CO2 in the water. If you get ALL,
or almost all the CO2 out of the water, then the PH will reflect the
natural state of the water conditions, but if you don't have enough
surface agitation, the PH will reflect simply CO2 problems and the
creatures will almost always be stressed under those types of
conditions. Essentially, you want to be sure your PH is reflecting
itself in a water column that has a healthy gas exchange, thats why
its good to have enough powerheads to reduce as many dead spots as
possible. At the same time, churning at the surface whenever possible
has the effect of keeping the water clean and spotless on the surface,
carries all the floating junk down into the bacteria filtration chain,
and allows more light to shine thru to the animals due to a clean
surface, instead of reflecting it back away from the tank.

So that is the best way to take advantage of good circulation once
algae problems are gone.

On Dec 4, 1:30 pm, Wayne Sallee wrote:
And the ph will also reflect the co2 content of the
air in the room.

Wayne Sallee


wolfdogg wrote on 12/4/2007 12:50 PM:



Yeah, you want ALOT of current flow, this way everything in your tank
gets a steady flow of food over them. And, if you have enough current
power(enough powerheads with enough flow in them) then you can afford
to aim them to skim across the top of the surface just enough to NOT
soak the entire canopy and cause water damage to anything, which will
control PH by getting all the CO2 out of the water which brings in
fresh oxygen at the same time. You need good CO2 exchange, and the
more animal load, the more surface agitation you need. Surface
agitation is the only way CO2 escapes out of the tank, and the PH is
directly related to the amount of CO2 in the water. If you get ALL,
or almost all the CO2 out of the water, then the PH will reflect the
natural state of the water conditions, but if you don't have enough
surface agitation, the PH will reflect simply CO2 problems and the
creatures will almost always be stressed under those types of
conditions. Essentially, you want to be sure your PH is reflecting
itself in a water column that has a healthy gas exchange, thats why
its good to have enough powerheads to reduce as many dead spots as
possible. At the same time, churning at the surface whenever possible
has the effect of keeping the water clean and spotless on the surface,
carries all the floating junk down into the bacteria filtration chain,
and allows more light to shine thru to the animals due to a clean
surface, instead of reflecting it back away from the tank.

So that is the best way to take advantage of good circulation once
algae problems are gone.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Where the hell were you Wayne when your Go0d was handing out ****ing
brains boi? You only know about moving the dildo for your momma....see
how do you like it Wayne.you could have left things go and been a nice
spoiled asshole like Gill is, but no you like to stir the ****ing
pot.and your not even a ****ing half wit cook yet alone a
knowledgeable individual about marine reefs and fish. I really think
you get your rocks off with this crap Wayne.............being your the
dildo of all dildos, which evidently came from too many years of
pulling yourself.

On Dec 4, 11:30 am, Wayne Sallee wrote:
And the ph will also reflect the co2 content of the
air in the room.

yeah, true. hopefully theres enough fresh air in the room. usually
if theres enough to keep people alive, theres enough for the tank,
lol. but ive heard about cases where there wasn't enough air flow
into the tank due to a closed light hood and stuff.