Pump, Powerhead or Neither?

[pseudo]

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm in the final stages of equipment planning to convert my 29g from FOWLR to a nano.

 

I've been reading here and over at wetwebmedia and I'm a bit confused about something.

 

I have an Emperor 280 filter and I'm not sure if I need a powerhead, pump or neither for my nano. I understand different corals will require different water movement but I feel a little lost about how to get there...

 

If a pump, I'm looking at the Rio 600 with 200 gph. For a powerhead, I've heard good things about the Penguin 660 with 175 gph. Either one of those sound right for a 29g and would I require more than one or does the Emperor 280 play any part?

 

The powerhead confusion is mainly coming from the product descriptions - most say they work with an undergravel filter, which I don't have. I assume the UG filter isn't a requirement...the water is sucked in from the bottom and pushed out through the top?

 

Anyway, just wanted to get your thoughts before I tearfully part with my moolah and buy the wrong thing.

 

Thanks!

[Vincerama]

Pumps are like small rectangles that pump water through an outlet tube. Ditto for powerheads EXCEPT that originally, powerheads are used to plug into the water pipes that come up from UGFs. Normally, UGS have columns with an airstone at the bottom. The bubbles from the airstones pull the water out of the UGF and up the tube. Now this might not be enough "power" for larger UGF, so "powerheads" were made so that they fit into the top of the tube (which is why they have that cone shaped input at the bottom) to pump the water out of a UGF. I think UGFs may have fallen out of favour, but I used one when my 10g was a freshwater tank.

 

Anyway, a powerhead is also a pump, but I find that, since they were designed for use with UGF tubes, they tend to be awkwardly shaped and thus they don't fit well in a smaller tank. I have a RIO 90, which is a small rectangle that fits nicely behind some rocks AND I have a Maxi-jet 400 powerhead, which is taking up way too much space...But, I am using it for water current to fill in some spaces where the RIO and my HOB do not provide water flow. It's too big, I just ordered some Aquaglobe AQ200 pumps which are TINY to replace the powerhead.

 

Check out <https://secure17.websitecomplete.com/charle...ept.asp?dept=23>

if you are interested in the aquaglobe, since this is a great price and that is the price SHIPPED!

 

Your HOB filter will be good, but you will have some points in the tank near the bottom where you will not have much water movement (you tell me, is there any dead spots now in the FW setup?) And the thing with coral and worms and stuff is that they are mostly filter feeders that can't move, so you gotta pump water in their direction to get them fed.

 

Oh, and when you are mixing salt water in a bucket, you'll want a powerhead or pump to mix it for you to get it really well mixed and aerated. (ie; let it mix overnight)

 

So powerheads are just awkwardly shaped pumps. BUT some in tank pumps don't have an "input" tube, rather, they have holes in the pump body itself (like the RIOs) so if you want to put a tube on the input to draw water from a specific place and pump it somewhere else, you have to make sure that the pump will let you do that, and most powerheads do have an input pipe (which would fit in a UGF tube).

 

HTH!

 

Vince

[pseudo]

Vince,

 

You're my hero! I haven't been able to find anything like that explanation.

 

Thank you so much and I appreciate the link! I know where I'll be buying from. Now I just have to figure out how many gph I need for my 29g.

 

I've read a lot about having two powerheads on each side of the tank but then I've read that others are completely opposed to powerheads. It's funny how the simplest things can be overwhelming. I'd rather take on the stress beforehand instead of passing that stress on to the fish and corals, though!