HOW DO POWERHEADS WORK?

a lot of the gph and how many powerheads to use is going to depend on how much water flow you want. For a 55 (I am assuming the long version) I'd go with four, two on each end and two near the middle. with the even spacing you can go with lower flow powerheads. Two with one on each end should be sufficient as well. The hookup is simple, you just plop the bottom (input side) of the powerhead into the UG tube and twist it around to direct flow.

The way they work is fairly simple, the input has an impeller inside that spins to push water out a side hole, not much more complicated than that. You can typically mount them in any position and they are commonly used in a sort of sideways position to pump water out of the tank for things like protein skimmers, etc.

A hang on back filter has pretty much the same impeller driven theory behind it, only the impeller pulls water down from an upside down U tube to bring water into a filter.

I'd run it in RUGF instead of UGF + consider the flow rate based on the size of fish you are keeping. I would go with 2 - 1 on each end ...

if you are already using the emperor 400 on the 55g, you don't need an undergravel filter as well. the emperor is enough filtration.

of course, with an RUGF, you have to hook the output end of the powerhead to the upright rigid plastic tube. The intake end gets an extension thing and a sponge around it. at least thats the only way Ive ever seen it done.
I would think that if you had one at each end of the 55, it would work across the whole bottom of the tank. Having one for now wouldn't hurt though.

zazz said:

of course, with an RUGF, you have to hook the output end of the powerhead to the upright rigid plastic tube. The intake end gets an extension thing and a sponge around it. at least thats the only way Ive ever seen it done.
I would think that if you had one at each end of the 55, it would work across the whole bottom of the tank. Having one for now wouldn't hurt though.

Click to expand...

i could be way off... but i thought the whole idea behind rugf is to draw water down through gravel using it as a sort of filter.... then expelling through the top to get the hob to clean up the rest.. in which was the intake should be hooked up the hose... dont listen to me though