Best place to place power heads?

[Iphantom]

(see pic on verge of quitting tank)

I have 2 PH 201 and 301

I am just having a hard time figuring out where to place them

take a look at my tank and rock structure on the verge of quitting post and tell me what you think

-Matt

[spoondigity]

Hey Iphantom,

 

I have a little bit of info that may help you in your decision. With one of my nano's, I did a bit of testing early on with it. I kept a powerhead (I think it was a microjet) blowing across the back of the tank along the bottom. It was just high enough above the bottom of the tank as to be as close as I could get it to the bottom without pilling up my substrate from being blown around. (maybe 3 inches above the substrate).

 

Now at the same time, I didn't have any other powerheads going in the tank at all and most of the current from that single microjet was exhausted by the time it made it's way past the rocks along the back of my tank and hit the far right side wall of the tank. So no current was moving across the front of the tank for the most part.

 

With this setup, I found that the back of my tank stayed spotless with no algae on the substrate. The front on the otherhand, eventually developed some micro algae and became problematic.

 

My next step was to add a powerhead to move current around the front bottom of the tank. When I did this, eventually I had no more problems with algae along the front (I did remove the existing algae before placing the powerhead in front, but normally it would grow back without the PH there).

 

Now this isn't the end all be all answer for microalgae (there are a host of other ways to avoid micro algae), but you might consider it as being helpful in placing powerheads. I make sure I have a decent current moving over all of my substrate to help out in my no micro algae efforts.

 

I have also experimented with having a powerhead in the top back of the tank directed so that it blows forward and down to try for a good flow across the front of the tank. This didn't work well and I found that I had to move it back down just above the substrate to be most useful.

 

I also use a skimmer and I would guess that having the powerheads low and blowing across the substrate simply kept nutrients suspended in the water and kept them from resting on the bottom. When they stay suspended, your skimmer has a much better chance of pulling them out.

 

May be worth thinking about when you place your PH's. You can mess with them and find what works for you. Every tank is slightly different and it is very difficult to say what will work without trying it out. The best thing is to watch your tank, and watch your algae to see what areas become problematic.

 

Last but not least, you have received a ton of great info in your other posts about algae control. This is the real key to it so please do consider my advice as only helpful ideas in the bigger picture.

[3twenty5]

spoondigity

 

What size is your nano..i am running a mj 404 on a spray bar on the bottom back of my tank..it seems to create a good enough current to sweep around the rocks and to the front of the tank. I do get some microalgae buildup on the fron sand bed..but think that is mostly due to the availability of light to the front compared to the back of the tank. I think maybe you did not get good enough flow up front could be due to your aquascaping...just a guess

[spoondigity]

Well I actually tend to have a lot of space around my rocks. I probably have more substrate showing than most tanks and the water is free to move around to the front of the tank. One part of it may be that I use Microjets. They are not extremely strong and it didn't seem like much current was making it across the surface of the front substrate.

[freakaccident]

Get a wavetimer for the two PHs and have them circ the water in alternating directions. That or get a powersweep.