powerheads

[bandman]

I'm starting a FO tank after having a reef tank for a while. If I get larger fish will I still need to cover my powerheads?

 

[dmjordan]

just a safety (for fish) precaution) a friend had a 3" chromis get sucked up on the powerhead. fish was sleeping and got too close to it.

 

[reefkprz]

if you have a two foot panther grouper its not going to get stuck to or killed by a maxi jet 600 if you have a tang it could get creamed by a maxi 1200
it all depends on the size of the fish versus the size of the power head.
its always safer to assume problems could occur and just cover them plus it prevents random stuff from getting sucked up and damaging power heads. like a stray snail wedges power head over heats causing temperature spike...... ya know..

 

[nca989]

This is an old post but... what are you "covering" the powerheads with?

 

[darknes]

He means covering the inlet of the powerhead. Most powerheads come with a plastic strainer connnection to help, but if you want to be even more cautious, cover the inlet with a sponge. You can buy filter sponges that you can cut to size and then slip on; they just need to be cleaned every few days.

 

[nca989]

Ok that makes more sense now. Sorry for the ignorant question. One more, I keep reading bad things about the rio's, let alone how darn ugly their presence in the tank is. I was thinking of replacing the Rio 800 and 1700 I acquired with some Maxi-jets, any thoughts?