Should I run a power head,also Bio wheel question

[maverick2402]

I have a 20 gal planted tank that I just got up and running and I am using a penguin bio wheel filter . My question is ,I have 301 power head that I have had that I'm not using for anything and was wondering if there would be any benefit of any kind if I were to add it to the tank .Also I have removed the biowheel part from my filter and I am just running the filter as I read on this forum that the wheel causes air bubbles which could affect the C02 content in the tank .Is that true?I dont have any C02 injector of any kind ,I have just been adding Flourish Excel.I was wondering if anyone has any insight on either of these subjects.

[Harlock]

Eek! add the biowheel back. You can't gas off Flourish Excel. I hope this didn't interrupt your bio-filter. There is really no need to add the powerhead unless you just want extra water circulation.

[Dragon Queen]

On the same subject line i have a 29gal with an air pump ugf, pengiun 125? powerhead also ugf. Would it harm my plants if I put a small biowheel on there, or am I borrowing trouble?

[Timmain42]

UGFs aren't the best for plant tanks, the plant roots tend to dig into the UGF plate and make removal/replanting difficult.

And if you do it properly, a single powerhead can be the filter for your entire tank. I am using a German-made product called a Bioflo (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11367&Ntt=bioflo&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1) as the only filtration to a 55 gallon (32 actual volume) heavily planted tank. I would not use this product with injected CO2, but with Excel it works just fine.

http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20040513133006/www.drsfostersmith.com/images/products/large/p_17023_24411P.jpg

Now, this is my personal opinion, so take it as you will: I don't like biowheels. They do the job darn well, but I prefer a filtration system that doesn't require much in the way of external parts. I've been trimming down my plant tank filtration systems over the last year, and most of them now are hard-plumbed (meaning that they don't really use a "filter" per se, they just circulate the water around the tank via an attached water pump). The most "external" filtration system I use now is an Eclipse6 hood. Pretty much everything else has been redesigned or developed to fit within the confines of the tank, barring a couple of size-related exceptions.

[maverick2402]

Timmain,What kind of foreground plants are they in all of your tank pics?

[Timmain42]

In the lowLight tanks, it's all dwarf sag; in the higher light tanks, it's pygmy chain sword.

[Dragon Queen]

All of mine are mostly stem plants, there isn't a whole lot for selection around my town :mad: , so they just get stuck into the gravel.
Actually I'm not sure I need or want to use co2 injection even though I would like to get more plants in there.