Sick Power In a 12

darthteddy · 10-09-2004, 06:04 PM

Ok i have a jbj nano. The third day i had it i found a powerhead in our garage and hooked it up. Today when i went to buy turbo snails i saw a good priced rio 180. So now i have 2 powerheads and the pump all working at the same time. It has so much power. I factored it to be about 450GPH. All the crap i wanted to get off of the LR that i could not reach is going in circles now so i can net it all up. There are waves and every 10 minutes or so a crazy tornado kinda thing in the middle of the tank. But dont worry all you hardliners. I just have the third powerhead in there temporarily. I dont have any fish so its not really a problem now. I will dump a pump into my bros 20 in a week or so. I just love having all that power. Is there something i could do with those power heads(wavemaker or somethin)? Ill try to get pics up soon.

yousuredo · 10-09-2004, 06:26 PM

a wave strip, sure........

Doug1 · 10-09-2004, 06:27 PM

Give your Bro the Rio, they have a bad reputation. If you wanna run powerheads on a wave timer, the maxijets seem to get the best reviews

darthteddy · 10-09-2004, 06:40 PM

ok can someone be as kind as to explain how wavemakers or wutever work. I am not positive as to what they do and why they do it.
P.S. i have only heard bad things about the larger rios not the smaller ones.

Jeremiah · 10-09-2004, 07:03 PM

Wavemakers turn power heads on and off in a series. Some are very simple. Some are computerized and they even have power heads that can come on gradually and change speeds and what not. I would't worry about a wave maker in a 12 gallon tank though. If you want to get some alternating currents you could get a swcd and rig up a closed loop system?

Here is a link to some not so expensive wave makers.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...?N=2004+113039

HTH...

darthteddy · 10-09-2004, 07:42 PM

so basically its the same as me turning on all mz powerheads at once for a minute and then off for 10 then on for a minute in a nut shell

Junkzoo · 10-09-2004, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darthteddy

so basically its the same as me turning on all mz powerheads at once for a minute and then off for 10 then on for a minute in a nut shell

Can be that way,,,,most of the times they are used for alternating the current,,,
one side is on,,,then off, while the other one starts up, then repeat,,,
back n forth,,,

darthteddy · 10-09-2004, 07:56 PM

cool but do i need that in a nano. With the rio in as the main pump the water goes in circles wich leads me to belive it hits every thing from every direction. What if i just had a power head on each side runing full time and then the other on the bottem of the tank with that flat nozel thingie to blow all the light crap to the frot so that it is easily cleanupable. Would this do the trick if i dont want to spend time using timers and all that?

Jeremiah · 10-09-2004, 08:33 PM

Yeah, that's what I was saying is that you aren't going to need one in a 12 gallon tank. If you do want alternating current though you could get something cheap. Some power heads work better then other. Most of the cheaper wave makers just cut power on and off to the power head. Some powerheads dont' like this. Especially the RIO's. They have enough problems just working in the first place. LOL

darthteddy · 10-09-2004, 09:30 PM

Yea i am using the rio as my regular pump to the built in filter. I am using the stock pump and one i found in my garage as power heads. I think im gonna have it set up like proposed above with one on each side and one in the middle on the bottem. My only thought is that this might blow my sand in every direction (like something in a nightmire)
My new turbo snails are going crazy. They ate all day and i guess they got full because they arent eating any more. and the current is throwing them in evey direction because i think they are asleep. Do snails sleep when they are full?

darthteddy · 10-09-2004, 09:41 PM

oh yea right now i am just using like pumps as powerheads but they do the job. What is a good kind of powerhead. Do i want one with the air hose. Do i want one that rotates? Is there a certain brand i should buy?What is up with the reverse flow power heads?