Powerhead too strong?

C

CharlieMBTA

New Member
Hey guys,

After successfully keeping freshwater fish without currents for a while now, setting up a powerhead in my first salt water tank (40b) is a strange experience for me. Currently, the 40b is a fully cycled fowlr tank with two juvenile clownfish and blue yellow tail damsel. The powerhead is a maxijet 600 set up in "laminar water circulation mode", at 750gph. It seems none of the fish are happy with this, and all stay in the dead zones. It could be that they all like the liverock in that area, but i find that unlikely.

So my quesions are these:

a) is 750gph too much for the fish in there and in a 40 gallon breeder tank?

b) should I get a smaller powerhead?

c) should i switch it into "powerhead mode"?

Also I am a bit concerned with the two clownfish getting their tails caught into the laminar flow mode which seems to be a possibility.

Thanks!
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Best practice is to have as much flow as possible as long as your animals are content and rocks and sand are not blowing all over. If the current is so strong that fish can't swim normally, then try toning it down, keeping in mine that your system should have good flow throughout every inch of the aquaria. Really, its best to use as many PHs as needed to accomplish this, and perhaps not just one that blasts water in the aquarium.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I used 2 800 GPH power heads in my 40b. The fish were in and around of the rocks because that is how they live in the wild. Both clowns and damsels are fish that will tend to be in and out of the rock a lot. Neither one is an open water swimmer.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Are you planning on keeping corals ? if so you have to make sure your power heads are not causing sweeper tentacles that can sting other corals
 
D

deejeff0442

Active Member
Just note this. You are not going to make as much turbulence as the ocean. I would add another head pointed at each other .
 
C

CharlieMBTA

New Member
I plan on turning the fowlr into a reef in the future, but not at the moment. I have kept it at high power and placed it in the back facing along the back wall, hoping that it diffuses the water a little bit. It seems a lot better, but the clowns still seem to have trouble getting from one end to the other. I plan on adding more live rock as well. I am also assuming the clowns will have less of a problem as they grow bigger, considering they are less than an inch at the moment.
 
D

deejeff0442

Active Member
What kind of clowns are they? Percs don't act like normal fish . I have 2 and they don't swim straight. They go up and down side to side weird. Had them for 30 yrs and all of them are like this. Never once seen one swim a straight line
 
C

CharlieMBTA

New Member
They are common clownfish. Yeah, I love the way they swim. So inefficient but so adorable lol. It doesn't seem to be their swimming nature however. When they tried going to the other end of the tank, they were fully moving their bodies but made very little progress. Eventually they gave up and went back to their favorite rock.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top