powerheads???

[petergorde]

i am setting up a new 45 gallon tank that is going to have about 75 lbs of live rock and 60 lbs of sand. my question is powerheads. how mann and what type should i have. my LFS has rios. are they good? they also have a zoomed ocelating one. i know nothing about powerheads or flow. my tank is drilled with a via aqua 3600 pump 3 ft below the tank for the return. this is connect to a spraybar with 5 holes in it about 12 inches long. so far that is all my flow. please help me out as i am totally clueless and my LFS seems to know little more than I.
thanks
peter

 

[salty cheese]

In my 46 I have 3 Maxi-jet 900 and my return is a Mag7, most people shoot for a 25x turn over rate.
Most of what I've read about Rio's has been bad, do a search on the board about them.

 

[mbrands]

I agree with Salty in that most of what I've read about Rio powerhead is negative feedback, but I've never used them myself. I did have the ZooMed powersweep and it SUCKS! The head got stuck and stopped the sweeping motion within about 3 days, so I returned it.
From the research I've done, you definitely want at least 460 gallons/hour for your tank if you plan on only keeping fish. You'd want closer to 920/hour (20 times) for a reef tank.
The most important part with your powerheads is that you are creating some waves or motion on the water's surface and that there are no dead spots in your tank for debris to accumulate.

 

[petergorde]

thanks guys!!! is it better to have one really stong powerhead or 2 or three that add up to the current you want. also where would the best placement be. in my sisters tank she has them both in the back with one low and one high creating kinda a circular flow and also getting beghind her rocks. there is not much flow in front though where the fish mainly stay.

 

[mbrands]

It sounds like your sister's tank is a pretty typical setup. I'd suggest 2 or 3 to insure more water movement and no dead spots. Also, one powerhead at full force might stress your fish with too much current.

 

[petergorde]

i just got a SEIO superflow powerhead with 620 gallons per hour flow. this is what all the guys that hang at the LFS have and they love it. they all have very large tanks too. one has a sick 300 gallon with like 3 full grown tangs. anyway this one is soposted to be really good and it was expensive enough that i believe it. let me know what you think.

 

[mbrands]

I'm not familiar with that brand.
Keep in mind that some LFS employees are paid on commission and only want to sell you the expensive stuff to boost their paycheck. This might not be the case with yours, but just be cautious.
Good luck!

 

[bigarn]

I prefer Maxi-Jets over them all.

 

[petergorde]

i'm friends with the owner of my lfs so i dont think he would give me bad info, plus the regulars there all use this same kind of powerhead. it seems to have a really low power flow, i dont know if that is good or bad. i have 2 powerheads so i thik i am set as of now. the cloudyness from my sand still has not gone down since yesterday i still cant see the back of the tank. i kow this is normal but i just want it to be clear.

 

[thomas712]

Go with the Maxijet 900's as they use much less power than a stronger one. MJ900's only use 8.5 watts whereas a MJ1200 would use 20 watts of power. Big difference.
Try to shop online for them, many times you will find them for half the price your fish store sells them for.
Thomas