Good powerhead for a stream tank

I recently bought a powerhead for my aquarium. It was $25 for two 1300 gallon per hour powerheads on amazon.com (I bought four for $50 including shipping). I put a single one of the four powerheads into my 75 gallon saltwater aquarium and it is literally tossing the crushed coral around. It's really amazing.

A lot of people mention riffle tanks and they don't know how to get enough flow. In the past I've given the advice, "Make a circle for the water to flow in. Don't point the powerhead towards a wall" and it seemed like the best answer based on the assumption that more powerful powerheads were prohibitively expensive. But now I found this 1300 gallon per hour powerhead for two for $25 and I have revised my opinion. My new advice is "Buy a really powerful powerhead." It blew the diatoms off of the rockwork! I'm just so impressed with this thing. I was afraid for a few moments that it was going to rip the corals off of their rock XD Anyway, these 1300 gph powerheads would be perfect for a riffle tank. The exact model is "Shkerry Aqua Wave Maker", but I think the important part is the 1300 gph rating.

I used to have a powerhead that was about 500 ish gallons per hour in my 55 gallon darter tank and now I'm pitying those poor darters. The powerhead only pushed the water halfway down the tank and then fizzled out. There's no comparing 500 ish gph with 1300. Well, yes there is. It's almost three times as much. The sad part is I paid around $50 for the 500 gph from a pet store. And here it turns out that the model that is almost three times as strong is a quarter of the price. *headdesk* So, that's why I'm writing this little post on here. If anybody is setting up a darter tank, it's NANFAns. Hopefully a few people see this and compare powerheads online with what's in their local pet store. If I could go back in time I'd give my darters a proper current, instead of spending my limited budget on a tiny powerhead that didn't get the job done but was all that was offered at the local store.

Edited by EricaWieser, 05 July 2012 - 11:19 PM.

I can't seem to find the product you're talking about. Would you mind adding a link?

I can't seem to find the product you're talking about. Would you mind adding a link?

This was what I bought specifically: http://www.amazon.co...d/dp/B002480V32
(It is probably currently sold out because I bought it. If you look at the current auctions offered by the seller you might find a more recent or currently open auction.)
Try typing in the keywords "1300 gph" in google's shopping tab, the amazon.com search bar, and the ebay.com search bar. Or just 'gallons per hour', 'gph', 'pump', etc. I think I found those 1300 gph powerheads originally by typing in 'wave maker' and 'powerhead' in various forms into the search bars of big shopping websites. For example a quick search on ebay found this one for $18.85 and free shipping: http://www.ebay.com/...073365564&ps=54
versus the highest rated powerhead at petsmart is this $50 one that only has 950 gph: http://www.petsmart....ductId=11000160

Edited by EricaWieser, 07 July 2012 - 12:20 AM.

The one you posted only comes with one of the 2, but it's still a good deal.

The one you posted only comes with one of the 2, but it's still a good deal.

http://www.amazon.com/1300-Coral-Aquarium-Makers-Powerhead/dp/B002480V32
currently in stock and it's two 1300 gph powerheads for $30 (including shipping)

I once ran a 30 gal "Rainbow" tank, Shiners and Darters with a SEIO 2600 for circulation. The 2600 is the gph. The tank was like a jacuzzi and of course the Darters loved it, but the real surprise was the Shiners. They schooled constantly and tightly, and really seemed to enjoy hanging out in the area of highest flow, swimming in place at an insane rate just to hold position. Then suddenly as a group they'd kind of "relax" for want of a better word, and allow themselves to swept into a calmer area where they'd hang out for a while, and then just as suddenly they'd accelerate back into the high flow and repeat the process. It was really entertaining to watch! The SEIO series along with the Hydor Koralias produce really high flow rates, but they do so in a more dispersed manner. They're relatively expensive however. The newly upgraded Marineland Maxijets incorporate a propeller mod that increases flow up into the 2000 gph range on the 1200 model. They're available for less than $25 online and are very reliable units.

Edited by Subrosa, 16 July 2012 - 10:22 AM.

I found 2 1300gph wave maker powerheads for 29.90 on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/...sid=p3286.m1934

Keep in mind when comparing pumps that GPH (or any other volume per time unit) at zero head pressure is not a measure of the power of the pump. Cheap high-volume pumps generally have low head pressure, which is fine if used only underwater. Pumps with higher head pressure for lifting water (which you may not care about for this application) will usually cost more. Think about the difference between an air pump (high pressure, low volume) versus a fan (low pressure, high volume). Different machines for different uses.

Keep in mind when comparing pumps that GPH (or any other volume per time unit) at zero head pressure is not a measure of the power of the pump. Cheap high-volume pumps generally have low head pressure, which is fine if used only underwater. Pumps with higher head pressure for lifting water (which you may not care about for this application) will usually cost more. Think about the difference between an air pump (high pressure, low volume) versus a fan (low pressure, high volume). Different machines for different uses.

Also the pattern of flow can differ greatly. Koralia style, such as those mentioned in this thread have a very wide cone of dispersion, which may or may not be advantageous. The cone of dispersion on a Maxijet set for circulation or a SEIO is much narrower, although much wider than a conventional stlye powerhead. Both of these would probably be better choices for longer tanks for that reason. Another thing I noticed, or more specifically didn't notice was a UL listing on the Amazon pumps. If they're listed it would say so on the unit itself. Can anyone who has them chime in on this?

Another thing I noticed, or more specifically didn't notice was a UL listing on the Amazon pumps. If they're listed it would say so on the unit itself. Can anyone who has them chime in on this?

You're right, there is no UL stamp on the Shkerry Aqua wavemaker I have. *shrugs* That's okay, it's not plugged in anyway. When I put it in my 75 gallon tank it was too strong and the polyps withdrew back into their mat. It was like a hurricane in there.