Powerheads?!?!

[WhoDey]

Aaron,
or whomever has some advise,

I'm looking into powerheads right now as the only form of water movement in my 55 gal tank. Does anyone have any suggestions on what type to get? There are tons of different kinds and I really don't know where to start... Should I get 2, one for each side? Or should I get one monster one? Does it need to rotate? GPH? Maybe even some examples of good brands would be nice too. I really don't want to put my old freashwater filter on the back of my tank to help with water flow because it's pretty ugly and kind of loud too. Any thoughts O wise one?

-Nate

[jd@ga]

Nate , Hey I can stand behind two brands Powersweep (rotating) and aquaclear . I personally would buy two just to keep the water really moving .It really is up to you about rotating or not,but the more you stir the surface the better . As far as gph I would say at least 200 gph.

[ahill3780]

As far as powerheads go, I only have experience with one brand. I've used Maxijet 1200 powerheads on all my tanks and I've never had any complaints. All of them still operate as if new. I would think that any one brand would work as well as the other as long as the gph is matched.

When I started out, before I upgraded to a sump, I ran 1 MJ1200 powerhead and a seaclone 100 skimmer and that worked out well for me.



I later found better results by adding a second MJ1200 and placed them on alternating cycles using timers to alternate the current. They make powerstrip wavemakers for this, but I went cheap and used manual programmable timers from wally-world to save cost. Worked well enough.

HTH,
Aaron

[WhoDey]

Thanks for the advise as always... Back to the skimmer thing. Is it necessay to have a skimmer when you are setting up your tank. I'm planning on letting mine sit with live rock for about 3 months before I put in any fish. I think I remember reading something about how you don't really need a skimmer until you start adding fish. And not just one fish like a bunch.

I'll take a look at those powerheads you guys mentioned and see what combo works out best... price wise and GHP wise.

---Tank update---

I just spent the last 4 days cleaning my 100 lbs of sand from lowes and I finally now have a 4 inch sand bed. Next step is water.... I can't wait to order my LR. I'm so excited I'm going to tell you agian what I ordered... I'm going with 30 lbs Lalo, 45 lbs select premium fiji (both from liveaquaria) and then 20 lbs of caribbean(etropics, which I think is the same as liveaquaria). The idea was to buy different kinds so I'll have different looks and critters! I hope they won't fight. I'm paying an arm and a leg for the 1 day shipping so all my HHs don't die. Then I'm going to drop all that in the tank and wait. Wish me luck! I'll have picks for you in about a week(as well as more questions I'm sure).

-Nate

[ahill3780]

Hey Nate,

The skimmer would be more helpful with the liverock at first. The tank will be fine without it since there aren't any fish in it. It is beneficial to use a skimmer on the tank in the beginning (or anytime for that matter), but not precisely necessary.

Tank sounds like it will be comming together soon. Can't wait to see the pics.

[ggmichael]

NATE your setup sounds great! I wish you luck. We have talked about an aquarium for so long but hubby said he really wanted SW. Once we invested in it and now that we are "cycling" it, we are both thrilled and having a great time with the hobby. Learning about all the growth, nutrients, chemicals, etc is such a challenge, and I have always loved a challenge. I even think I am passed the "worried" stage

GG