Aquaclear Powerheads...

kooter

AquaMan
Dec 14, 2003
701
13
18
Mission, BC
Has anyone lost fish to the sucking power of these powerheads?
I have a powerhead 50 and this thing is powerful! when I put my finger by the intake it sucks it right up and it takes a lot of pull to get it out of there.
How do the fish avoid getting "sucked up"? If you have a weak fish that is recovering from stress, or whatever it won't have a chance if it gets near the intake. Just curious what other members do to avoid fish loss to powerful filters/powerheads. thanks.
 
Try using the filters for the powerhead (Sold seperately...Of course!). This will spread out the area of suction and make your tank a little cleaner too.
 
I am going to get a filter for the bottom I think. I will try that. thx.
 
I use Aquaclear quick filters.
The flow slows drastically as the filter gets clogged, but I just pitch it in the trash and use the cage with nothing in it. Gives all but the smallest fish and fry a sort of safety margin.
 
ercnan said:
I use Aquaclear quick filters.
The flow slows drastically as the filter gets clogged, but I just pitch it in the trash and use the cage with nothing in it. Gives all but the smallest fish and fry a sort of safety margin.

I use the 50 for aeration as well but **** if I can get it to work the way I want. I need a diverter plus a tilt on the head to get the powerhead blowing where I want it. If you plunge the thing any lower than 2 inches below water surface, you can't get ANY aeration at all. :rant: :mad2:
Sometimes you could just grab that thing, rip it out of the wall and smash it against the floor then start jumping on it.......... :rant2:
I lost 5 fish to it so far!! 2 were weak, yes, but the other 3 were very fine specimens!
 
sorry to jump this thread but I just wanted to inform everyone that I finally have found a solution! :clap: I went to a new LFS and I love it, very clean, excellent selection, etc. etc, anyways they said to use a heater guard on the bottom of the powerhead with a cut-up piece of sponge. The heater guards are dirt cheap compared to the quick filter sold specifically for powerheads and they fit perfectly! I have more filtration, no loss of fish and a much needed reduced level of stress! :dance2:
 
If healthy fish can swim out of my large gravel vacuum I bet they can avoid a powerhead. If you find a dead fish attached to a powerhead, it most likely died and got sucked on to it.
 
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