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.