Pretty Disappointed with my Hydor Koralia 1

yearofthenick

Active Member
I bought a Hydor Koralia 1, with supposedly a rating of 400gph. There is NO WAY 400 gph is coming out of this thing. Even with the included nozzle that is supposed to "focus" the flow, it's terrible. I would argue that it actually makes things worse. $40 down the drain. I guess that's what you pay for what the italians call a powerhead with "style" (Hydor is an italian company).
Does anyone else have this same problem? Has anyone found a better way to use it? What are some other powerheads that can give me a more focused flow?
 

97wing

New Member
Yea I feel the same. I have two of the #1's in a 29 and I ended up adding a MJ600 and another off brand powerhead to get enough flow. The #1's just get full of sponge.
Steve
 

yearofthenick

Active Member
Well I have another pump rated at 400gph and it spews out water like nobody's business... but it comes out of a 3/8" hole... I'm not kidding, I've accidently sprayed water a foot out of my tank a few times because I was moving it around. This koralia is basically open everywhere. I guess I should have gotten something with a more focused output.
 

fanker

Active Member
well coral doesnt like direct flow thats why every pump they sell now is infirect flow so u get flow throughout the whole tank
 

yearofthenick

Active Member
I have a question then... This koralia is in my 20g and I have a 55g rated HOB going at 250gph. I also have the koralia 1 at 400gph. Should I get more flow? Maybe get a koralia 2? I just don't see enough motion happening in there.
The HOB does the waterfall thing so it's not really doing much as far as flow goes.
 

culp

Active Member
Originally Posted by YearOfTheNick
http:///forum/post/3042100
I have a question then... This koralia is in my 20g and I have a 55g rated HOB going at 250gph. I also have the koralia 1 at 400gph. Should I get more flow? Maybe get a koralia 2? I just don't see enough motion happening in there.
The HOB does the waterfall thing so it's not really doing much as far as flow goes.
even though the HOB does not have much flow, what it does do good is push oxygenated water down the tank and forces the water at the bottom up.
 

yearofthenick

Active Member
I think I might get a small HOB skimmer on there as well... I'd like to eventually keep corals in it.
But should I get another Koralia? 1 or 2? Or do I have enough flow for corals to be happy? I'll be keeping softies and LPS.
 

fanker

Active Member
ya i would but i also have coral that need flow but i make a couple spots that hve low flow for the rest
 

stanlalee

Active Member
I always tell people propeller GPH is nothing simular to conventional pump gph.
this is what I ALWAYS suggest to people used to conventional powerheads: whatever turnover you require with conventional powerheads DOUBLE it when using propeller style pumps. For example if you would use a maxi-jet 1200 (300gph) use a 600gph propeller pump (koralia 2). If your tank requires 20x turnover with conventional powerheads go 40x turnover with propellers. Koralia one works GREAT in my biocube 14 (which holds 10g of water filled to the brim with NO rock) in tandem with the stock return pump. I wouldn't use one for anything bigger. well I did add one to my 30g at the bottom just to keep detritus from settling in a spot it used to settle (bare bottom tank) but not for actual circulation.

the nano would probably be good for a 3g pico
 
Top