Advice on Powerheads

drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
I have a 46 gallon bow. Can anyone recommend good powerheads? How many should i get? Right now i have a spray bar for surface agitation and im using a mini-jet to keep things moving behind my LR(70lbs). I wanna get more flow in there. I think thats my problem with keeping my sand white and LR clean. I may have dead spots. I have a mag 5 to the spray bar. This is a reef tank. I have 2 clowns, yellow tang, yellow polyps, button polyps, and some shrooms.
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by joker_ca
maxi jets are good, i have had good success with hagen aquaclear PH's
I have a aquaclear 30 for my protein skimmer. Havent had any problems. The maxi-jets look a little more stealth. Not as much showing. I may go with those. What you guys think about SEIO?
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
it depends on the look you want, really if you make a spraybar on one of your bigger powerheads, that takes care of surface agitatation, then use two other powerheads one pushing longways along the bottom and one in the middle pushing opposite, you shouldnt have a problem or dead spots, especially in a 46 bow. Id go with a maxi 1200 pushing spray bar, (made from PVC) and then one penguin 1140 on the bottom and an 1140 in the middle.
the SEIO's are nice if you get the bigger models that mount flat on the back glass so you can get a 120 degree angle of current pushing into the middle of the tank....
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by carshark
it depends on the look you want, really if you make a spraybar on one of your bigger powerheads, that takes care of surface agitatation, then use two other powerheads one pushing longways along the bottom and one in the middle pushing opposite, you shouldnt have a problem or dead spots, especially in a 46 bow. Id go with a maxi 1200 pushing spray bar, (made from PVC) and then one penguin 1140 on the bottom and an 1140 in the middle.
the SEIO's are nice if you get the bigger models that mount flat on the back glass so you can get a 120 degree angle of current pushing into the middle of the tank....
Heres my plan...im gonna keep the Mag 5 on the spray bar for surface agitation. Im gonna get 2 maxi-jet 1200's and place one low on the left and one mid tank on the right. I still have the mini-jet ill keep it going in the lower rear of the tank behind the LR. Hows that sound?
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
i have one of the seio 1500's in my 100 gallon reef along with 2 other power heads and it does a very good job at pushing a large amount of water around and its not so directional that it blows your corals around it has a nice broad range of pressure.... to me a good investment
 
tim_12

tim_12

Member
I'm actually putting together my second maxijet 1200 for my 46 bow as we speak. I also have ~100 - 150gph coming from my sump. With all that I'll get about 15x turnover.
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by Tim_12
I'm actually putting together my second maxijet 1200 for my 46 bow as we speak. I also have ~100 - 150gph coming from my sump. With all that I'll get about 15x turnover.
Any chance of posting a pic so i see where you placed them?
 
tim_12

tim_12

Member
My camera isnt working for some reason right now. I'l try to borrow one tomorrow to get a picture for you. Heres a quick sketch. The main purpose of the return facing that way is to scoop any waste that has built up on the surface out of that corner and push it into the powerhead flow, which brings it to my overflow box in the right corner. The power heads are positioned that way to "work together". Instead of having both of them aiming out in the middle of the tank and have the water collide, the one at the right brings the water across the back while the other one brings it across the front. The left powerhead is about 3"from the surface and the right one is about 6" from the surface.
 
vanos

vanos

Member
The power head that oscillates is a piece of junk. I have one and it stopped working after 6 months. It still works but doesn't oscillate. Get rid of the spraybar. These are for freshwater tanks.
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by Tim_12
My camera isnt working for some reason right now. I'l try to borrow one tomorrow to get a picture for you. Heres a quick sketch. The main purpose of the return facing that way is to scoop any waste that has built up on the surface out of that corner and push it into the powerhead flow, which brings it to my overflow box in the right corner. The power heads are positioned that way to "work together". Instead of having both of them aiming out in the middle of the tank and have the water collide, the one at the right brings the water across the back while the other one brings it across the front. The left powerhead is about 3"from the surface and the right one is about 6" from the surface.
Thanks for the sketch. I would have to do the opposite. My overflow is on the left and my return(spray bar) is on the right. I assume the position of those powerheads keeps your sand nice and clean? Right now my mag 5 is rated at 500gph. I also have the AC 30 powerhead rated at 174gph on my skimmer. Thats only about a 12x turnover. Im gearing for at least 15x. The 2 maxi-jets will give me about 590gph. Thats 21x turnover. Is that too much?
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by Vanos
The power head that oscillates is a piece of junk. I have one and it stopped working after 6 months. It still works but doesn't oscillate. Get rid of the spraybar. These are for freshwater tanks.
Whats wrong with the spray bar? It does the job of keeping the surface moving.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Originally Posted by drew2005
I have a 46 gallon bow. Can anyone recommend good powerheads? How many should i get? .
2- Maxi jet 900's, they use much less electricity than the 1200's and its all you will need for that size tank + your spray bar. 900's use 8.5 watts each and the 1200's use 20 watts.
Maxi jet powerheads are one of the best that you can get IMO. Go for the 900's as the offer a much better energy savings over the 1200 as you can see by the chart blow.
.Maxi Jets Wattage:
600 = 7.5 watts per hour
900 = 8.5 watts per hour
1200 = 20 watts per hour!!!
Model V/Hz Consumption
(in watts)
Maximum
Flow
Maximum
Pumping Ht.
Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price*
l/h g/h meters inches
MP400 120/60 5 400 106 .73 29 $27.90
MP600 120/60 7.5 600 160 1.35 53 $32.85
MP900 120/60 8.5 870 230 1.17 46 $38.40
MP1200 120/60 20 1110 295 1.74 69 $42.85
Sure there is a difference of 65 gph between the 1200 and 900 but its still a good flow and you save on the electricity in the long run. I always like to suggest one extra for emergancy's or for mixing new saltwater.
Thomas
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by Thomas712
2- Maxi jet 900's, they use much less electricity than the 1200's and its all you will need for that size tank + your spray bar. 900's use 8.5 watts each and the 1200's use 20 watts.
Maxi jet powerheads are one of the best that you can get IMO. Go for the 900's as the offer a much better energy savings over the 1200 as you can see by the chart blow.
.Maxi Jets Wattage:
600 = 7.5 watts per hour
900 = 8.5 watts per hour
1200 = 20 watts per hour!!!
Model V/Hz Consumption
(in watts)
Maximum
Flow
Maximum
Pumping Ht.
Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price*
l/h g/h meters inches
MP400 120/60 5 400 106 .73 29 $27.90
MP600 120/60 7.5 600 160 1.35 53 $32.85
MP900 120/60 8.5 870 230 1.17 46 $38.40
MP1200 120/60 20 1110 295 1.74 69 $42.85
Sure there is a difference of 65 gph between the 1200 and 900 but its still a good flow and you save on the electricity in the long run. I always like to suggest one extra for emergancy's or for mixing new saltwater.
Thomas
WOW! thats a huge difference. Thanks for the info. Looks like it'll be 2 maxi900's instead.
 
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