Powerheads and wavemakers for a fresh water tank.

Hi guys,
I was adviced to add a powerhead or a wavemaker to one of my tank. This tank is 2 mt X 60cm X 70 cm. I have 750 liters of water in it and it is filtered by a Fluval FX5. All is good but apparently I should increase the turnover of water in it.
So I spent the day on the net and focused on one brand: Sicce. I was told to use two Voyager 8. One of these pumps turn 12000 liter of water. The price in SA is about 1,650.00 Rand each.
If I should add one I would not hesitate but if I need two I rather go for a second FX5 which can also improve the filtration.
This is my first FX5 and Fluval says it is good for tank up to 1500 l so i thought to be safe.
I have time and want to understand better this issue and I hope some of you guys are willing to help me.

Thank you.

 

Why was this the advice ... what did you ask/tell them?

 

I simply gave the size of the tank and the filter I use. I was told it is not a good idea to have 1 filter only and being the tank 2 mt long a powerhead or a wavemaker was the way to go. But I do not know these pumps at all. So I posted on this forum. Thank you.

 

Edit:Scrap that,i need to work on my reading skills.

You don't need a wavemaker but it wouldn't hurt to have one.

 

ah - yeah some truth in that - esp if you see dead spots that have no water flow ... some of these pumps are very expensive for what they are - water movers ... Seio Prop 320 flow pump 1200l/h was about R220 and you get bigger - seems to work well for what I wanted.

google
site:co.za Seio Prop

 

Hi @f_fish is correct. Check for dead spots in the tank. The fx5 has adjustable out flow pipes. Turn them to opposite directions at the centre of the tank and you should be ok. What fish do you have in that tank?

 

Hi Dash, here a pic of the tank. There are 6 young Cyrtocara moorii, 6 young Labidochromis caeruleus, 1 pakistani loach, 1 king tiger pleco, 1 clown pleco and 1 red fin shark. Ah, one baby frontosa and soon I would like to add a few more of them. As I said I did not look for help because I think there is a problem or I saw something wrong. I wanted to make sure the tank is properly filtered. But it was a good lesson to hear and read about water movement and in my specific case, expecially when the fish start to grow, I would prefer to add a second canister rather then a plain powerhead. The guy who suggested the powerhead is from Canada and he told me PH are very cheap there, around 30 USD. The ones I needed are almost 3,400.00 Rand for two. I have other two tanks. One you can see in the background. Both have two canisters each.

 

Hi you got some really nice fish in that tank. Just be carefull of that shark going forward. He will get really big and attack any fish in that tank. You can add an Inturnal filter if you choose to. This will be a backup to the fx5 in the event it malfunctions. It's not only the flow that is important but the media and the biological filtration that is going on. You have got a lot of rocks in their so it will build up with good bacteria. Hope this helps.

 

Yes Dash, it helps indeed. I will keep an eye open on the red fin shark. This looks ok. I had ones which looked like little Saddam Hussein. I like the rocks which I collected in a farm close to where I live. All washed and sterilized of course. The FX5 is loaded with Fluval Pre Filter in the mechanical stage and Seachem Matrix in the two other baskets. Matrix is a media I really like a lot.

 

Saddam!!! Lol are you sure that the poor fish can be as bad as him??? Lol. Good stuf that seachem matrix. How often do you do water changes? Big fish = _lots of mess.

 

Dash, in all honesty I still have to plan a proper schedule for the water changes. I have hard and alkaline water so I limited my species to Malawis and Tanganyikans. At the moment I go for two water changes a week. I would say 20% each, more or less. I read that a bigger change once a week is better but I am not sure of this yet. One tank has 33 baby tropheus and I treat it with white gloves...Here a pic for you:

 

In my oppinion small water changes are better as its less stress on the fish. 20% once or twice a week depending on your fish load. Others do like 50% once a week if they keep young discus. See my post in the article section on water changes. Hope this helps.

 

Nice fish dude!

 

Yes smaller water changes are better, I do 2 x 20% wc a week and my Tiger barbs and plants are doing awesome. I replace my filter floss weekly or biweekly. But it also depends on your fishes bio load. My fishes dont have a high bio load so for me 2 x 20% wc a week is more then enough. I do one on Tuesdays and one on Saturdays. Hth

 

Those baby tropheus are stunning.

 

The FX5 (according to manufacturer claims) will turn your tank over a little under 5 times an hour (at 750 litres).
With Malawis, I'd aim for a little higher than that with canister filters, so a second canister would definitely be helpful in your case if you can afford to do it.
Besides the obvious benefits of extra filtration and water movement, its also nice to have a backup filter in case one goes down (I'm sure you know this having 2 canisters on you other tanks).
It doesnt have to be another Fluval either, you can pick up a 2000lph (manufacturer claimed) SunSun 304B canister for under R1500 and they work perfectly fine, in fact I have one running on my Malawi tank.

 

^^^^ what he said.....very very nice.

 

Where did you get the sunsun filter?