Warning! ! ! ! ! ! !

[Keeferno]

Never ever buy a Zoo Med Powersweep. They may look like a cool idea which is how I got suckered into buying one. Within a week it quickly became the noisiest powerhead I've ever heard but this is not the problem.

 

They include with it a very large, very ugly sponge prefilter that is placed over the intake to prevent fish and other things from being sucked into it. Not wanting to lose any of my fish I was certain to put this on. This thing is a giant pain in the a$$ because it colects so much stuff in it. But again this is not the problem.

 

I got a beautiful bubble anenome a couple weeks ago and he has been doing great. The clownfish took to him and he got the bubble tips. He always stayed open for the clown and was in all-around great shape. So this morning I wake up to find he had roamed a little and lo and behold there he is stuck to the powerhead. Now he was not stuck to the intake which was protected by the sponge filter. Instead, there he is with a good portion of his body sucked up into the flow control knob and I must emphasize sucked into, not stuck to. Needless to say my bubble anenome died and I owe it all to Zoo Med.

 

DO NOT BUY THEIR PRODUCTS, you will be glad you didn't.

[SoS]

Sorry to hear about your problems, But I have been running one for several weeks with no problems and I know other people who have been running them for a long time with no problems. The LFS has one so covered in Corraline algea you can barely tell its a powerhead anymore and the things been cranking for a long long time.

 

I didn't like the pre-filter Idea at first but it's not as big as my Bio-wheel prefilter in my freshwater tank and it keeps alot of the larger crap out of the water.

 

I won't give them an A, But atleast a B The swivel action merits this on its own.

[Christopher Marks]

A lot of people have rated these as good concept - terrible design. It seems as though most will clog up the gears and/or break within a month or so.

[Dave ESPI]

well the sponge PRE-Filter is traping all the crap you dont want in your sand bed and water collumn. While I advocate the use of them, they DO have issues. Many have been addressed in Many Many Many threads here. I have had softies get stuck too, but ALL powerheads have that potental for disaster. Just be glad it only got stuck and NOT shreadded into the head. THAT is far worse. "rain O' death".

 

try one of the Aquaglobe Mini pumps. I have a thread posted here on them in -General.

[ajroahkni]

Hey, I just had the same problem w/ that gap from the flow control knob.

 

Maybe if ZooMed got some attn to it, they may make a modification.

[MrConclusion]

Take the sponge off the prefilter and just use a medium coarse nylon mesh over the plastic core from the sponge. Sponge filters remove lots of planktonic nutrition that your corals would thrive off of. Full-time mechanical filtration should be avoided IMHO.

[Guest AbSoluTc]

Sorry about your loss. Although, I don't blame zoo med for this. Perhaps their pumps are not the best designed, but they don't claim that.

 

Having ANY powerhead in a reef with wandering animals is a risk that you need to accept, or eliminate. This is why many reefers prefer closed loops, over the fact of an internal water movement device.

 

Your story, sadly - is only 1 of many.

[MrConclusion]

AbSoluTc what do you mean whan you say "closed loop"? I am curious because I know you don't mean the same thing I think of as closed loop ...- ie. suction/pressure closed loop.

[Guest AbSoluTc]

By closed loop - I am referring to the movement of water as a CLOSED system. No power heads inside the tank or any other device. Just a pump on the outside.

 

If you picture a 10gallon tank - looking at it from the front towards the back. The back wall has 4 bulkheads in it. Two near the bottom and 2 near the top. Plumbing and pump is on the outside. Bottom holes are INTAKE - top holes are RETURN.

 

Basically - your creating a whirlpool effect by sucking out tank water and returning it. CLOSED LOOP.