Got power heads in a trade. Are they good enough?

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Nepherael

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So I traded a $100 rifle for a 55g tank with homemade stand (really decent with two doors but nothing extravagant), hood, lights, and everything inside the stand. It contained 2 big HOB filters, air pumps, backgrounds, decor, misc stuff, and 4 penguin power heads. They need to be cleaned up but I'm wondering of they are good enough for the tank I'm planning

My tank is going to be a 125g salt tank (standard size 72x18x24) probably will have a reef and I was told I need to make sure there are no dead spots for flow.

I have:
2 penguin 1140's (rated 330 GPH)
A penguin 550 (145 GPH)
And a penguin 660 (170 GPH)

So what do you think? Did I need something bigger? Do I even need all 4 (I'd be happy to use a couple in other tanks and would actually prefer it)?
 

platytudes

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You certainly don't need all 4, I'd probably just use the 550 and 660 and save the bigger ones for your salt tank. You might consider a reverse flow undergravel filter, which is a very efficient form of filtration (and pretty cheap too, you can get a 4' undergravel filter for less than $20) especially for messy fish...Penguin makes the adapter kit for them :)
http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-PHRFK-Penguin-Power-Reverse/dp/B0002565GG
 

Nepherael

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You certainly don't need all 4, I'd probably just use the 550 and 660 and save the bigger ones for your salt tank. You might consider a reverse flow undergravel filter, which is a very efficient form of filtration (and pretty cheap too, you can get a 4' undergravel filter for less than $20) especially for messy fish...Penguin makes the adapter kit for them :)
http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-PHRFK-Penguin-Power-Reverse/dp/B0002565GG
Yeah I was actually referring to the salt tank to start. Well I'm glad to hear that because I need to creation some flow in the other two 55's. I actually have 4 undergravel filter bases already. Still need a couple tubes though

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TL1000RSquid

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those are relatively small pumps, like platy said use the 2 smaller ones in the FW. The 2 330's could go in the reef but you'll still want more circulation then they offer.
 

platytudes

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those are relatively small pumps, like platy said use the 2 smaller ones in the FW. The 2 330's could go in the reef but you'll still want more circulation then they offer.
Yeah, you definitely want to get at least another couple of larger Koralias or equivalent....but these would be ok too, however without a mounting mechanism (if you got them used, chances are they don't have the suction cups, etc?) they can be quite awkward to keep on there. Suction cups are so inferior compared to the magnetic mounting methods that circulation pumps use...maybe it's just me, but those old school powerheads aren't of much use to me, unless they're being used to power something, such as this:
http://www.loaches.com/articles/river-tank-manifold-design

Strictly for circulation, there are much better choices nowadays!

Incidentally, those kind of powerheads are great for mixing your salt.
 

ska d

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you might just need all of them. Reef tanks require somewhere between 15 to 20 times the size of your tank for flow. There is a lot more flow in a reef tank than you might think and the saying is "just when you think you have too much flow you are probably getting close. I'm not sure about an under gravel filter for salt water. You will probably want to use crushed coral or live sand which are both pretty fine.

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platytudes

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You definitely don't want to use an undergravel for salt, sorry...but it would be fine in a FW tank, especially a fish only one. Since you said you got a 55 gallon tank I assumed you were talking about using these powerheads for a 55 gallon tank set up for FW, sorry!
 

Nepherael

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You definitely don't want to use an undergravel for salt, sorry...but it would be fine in a FW tank, especially a fish only one. Since you said you got a 55 gallon tank I assumed you were talking about using these powerheads for a 55 gallon tank set up for FW, sorry!
No I knew what you meant. I was talking about the 55's with the UGF =)

Well I'll keep an eye out for more pumps. The ones I got do have suction cups but they're all hard and crappy. I'm wanting to switch to sand in the 55's so I may not mess with any UGF but I still need to add some flow. I think I'll use the two big ones in the salt tank and buy more on top and find a way to rig the smaller ones up (i have some powerful magnets I can silicone or glue to them and try and mount them that way)

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Last edited:

TL1000RSquid

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You could use the 2 bigger ones for your mixing bucket when you make saltwater. Since I know you want to do it as cheap as possible I'll skip reccomending some vortech pumps and say go with a couple Korelia Evolutions and add a controller down the road.
 
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