powerheads killin' stuff

vlondi

vlondi

Member
I love how my tank is nice and healthy--the water conditions/feeding/whatever never kills stuff--but it is my equipment that leads to the most casualties.
I just lost a new fish me mum bought for me: a nice little dottyback. He got sucked up into my powerhead intake and mangle pretty badly. I've also lost somewhere around 6 mexican turbo snails along with 4-5 other snails and almost my purple lobster to these powerheads.
I did a bit of searching and found that many suggest putting a screen or sponge on the intake to prevent these deaths. I would prefer to use a sponge but am worried that it will slow down the output of the powerhead or be a nitrate factory. Any help to clarify these worries? Can any ol' sponge be used? Would a prefilter be just as good/better?
Any other recommendations?
Thanks.
 
ed bachand

ed bachand

New Member
along with the screen that comes with the powerhead try buying a bulkhead for the pump. I have a hagen pump that came with srceen that was about a 1/2" from the bottom of the pump that was killing my fish when I wasnt home. For some reason I couldnt find the right one to fit, so I found one close to fitting, used the cone from the gravel bed filter, slid on the bulkhead and used aquarium silicone to hold it on. I ve had no problems since then.
hope this helped you out! :happyfish
 
boom215

boom215

Member
i have a question about phs? kinda close to the subject..... do you guys just put the whole ph in your tank? do you have a tube sucking water from somewhere?? how do yous do it... im tryin to get mine started but now that im ready i have a lot of last minute q's? thanx
 
vlondi

vlondi

Member
I know they aren't sick. The turbos I see crawling on the powerheads at times and I get them off when I see them; it's usually in the morning that I find a snail stuck in the intake and by then it is usually too late for them. The fish was fine but I believe I may have been his cause of death. I was getting my container out for a top-off and saw something get sucked into the powerhead. I thought it was just a bubble or something but now think that I startled him into it.
My powerheads didn't come with a screen...and what are these "bulkheads" that you speak of? Also, I know that my powerhead manuals state that they shouldn't be run unless fully submerged (hope that helps, boom).
For my main question again: If I use a sponge/prefilter do I need to worry about them being nitrate factories? Or would weekly cleanings prevent that?
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
I've heard weekly cleaning of sponge filters is insufficient. However, you're not running your entire current through them, and if you have a refugium to remove nitrates, you could get away with it. (I'd try it and test to see if nitrates went up as the doomsdayers assure.) It would certianly be better than having animals get sucked up.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
I have found afew fish stuck to a powerhead, but I belive they were sick and to weak to get away from the suction, is that what you are thinking mudd?
 
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