# Powerhead Recommendation for a Planted Tank



## pnchowdary (Jul 27, 2006)

I have a 30 gallon planted tank and presently I have a HOB type of filter on it. There is very little water movement. Therefore I was considering using a powerhead that would help me create water movement and act a reactor for my pressurised co2 injection. I was looking at the below product as it had a self rotating water output and it has a tube that would let me hook up the co2 line and would help create water movement. Could you please look at the below product and let me know whether it would work well for my purpose?

http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...1156523033600&itemNo=4&In=Fish&N=2030138&Ne=2

If you have suggestions about any other powerheads better than this. Please feel free to let me know and I would greatly appreciate a link where I can buy them. Thank you very much for any and all suggestions or advice.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

That product looks like it'll do the job. The fact of the matter is, any powerhead will get what you want..which is increased flow and a method to stick your CO2 tubing in the intake for dispersal.

The Maxijet is one of the better made and long lasting powerheads. A Maxijet 400 or more powerful 600 will do the trick. Search Drsfostersmith.com or Bigalsonline.com for them.

In addition, you can try the Via aqua powerheads for a compact sized, and still powerful flow.

-John N.


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## DaveS (Jun 9, 2006)

I'll give another thumbs up to the Maxijet powerheads. Last weekend I came home to a tank that had leaked 30 gallons of water, leaving my Maxijet 600 running dry for several hours. It was warm, but not too hot to touch, and once I got the tank refilled the powerhead operated as well as ever. I have three of these powerheads running 24 hours a day (for several years) and have yet to encounter a failure.

Dave


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## Yzfr6 (Apr 28, 2006)

I also have a 30 gallon aquarium and I use the maxjet 600 in it. Very good powerhead.


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## Jared Bozeman (Nov 21, 2005)

in my opinion, circulation is way overlooked in planted aquaria, not to mention reef. i've gone through a ton of power heads in my 42 hex and time after time, none are as quite or relible as the maxi jets. fresh water isn't nearly as tough on equipment (in my experiance anway) as salt water but i've still found maxi jets to be more relible in my planted tanks as well.



> In addition, you can try the Via aqua powerheads for a compact sized, and still powerful flow.


I have not had good experiance with the via aqua PHs: they seem to become realy noisy after a short time period. still, they are preaty cheap and have decent flow. for what it's worth, I was a bit suprised by this inconsitancy in PH, as i have found the canister filter to be almost as quite as my eheim's.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Odd, I have 3 via aqua powerheads running for about 6+ months now. No noise issues, in fact dead silent unless it get's dislodged from the suction cups and vibrates against the glass.

Only issue I have with them, is that they get clogged quite easily, and do require bi weekly cleanings for maximum utility.

-John N.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

If you always use a little sponge pre-filter on the powerhead inlet, there should rarely be a problem with them plugging up. I use one as the sole filter in my 29 gallon tank and clean it about once a month, with no noticeable reduction in output flow. I will be switching to a Barr internal venturi reactor for my 45 gallon, if I ever get everything done to set it up, and will use a small pre-filter on that too, plus the Maxijet 600 acting only as a big sponge filter for filtration.


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