# Powerheads for 180g African Cichlid tank



## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Hey Everyone!

I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on what level of GPH I need to get sufficient water movement in my African tank.. I was running dual 850gph Hydor's in my 90g tank and that did the trick perfectly (1 on each end of the tank) but adding another 2ft of length means I want to bump up the GPH to make sure I have as few "dead spots" as possible in my 180g. I'm thinking dual (1 on each end of my tank again) 1150 GPH Koralia powerheads.

What is everyone else out there using or what would you use if you were in my shoes?


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

I'm currently using 3 Koralia 1400's and 1 maxi jet 1200 for surface agitation.If you have wood or a good amount of rocks,it will be difficult to have no dead spots.I have 2 of them on same side,opposite from each other, on a slight angle towards the glass. The third one is on the other end of the tank ,in the middle,pointing straight. They are all near the bottom.I have virtually no dead spots.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Ya after a bit of research last night, I'm now leaning towards the 1500gph Koralia (x2) and see how that does, once it's all set up. I don't need more surface agitation, considering I'll be running an Emperor 400, AC110, Eheim 2075 canister and the big guy.. an Eheim 2080 canister. Both canisters have spray bars.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

I have 2 1400 gph koralias on my 90 gal tank as well as a 150 fpg hob, and 450gph canister outlet and I still have quite a few deadspots in my tank due to the density of rockwork in the tank. If you're up for a DIY project you can do under-sand filter jets to get rid of deadspots


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

I'm running 3x 1400 hydors and 2x rena xp4 ony 125g and I find there isn't enough flow.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Skip the HK powerheads. Get the Jebao line of powerheads. They are more powerful and hopefully longer-lasting.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

I found it helped to have the powerheads lower down the glass and towards the front pointed up and towards the back ever so slightly.. The 2 x HOB filters gave down flow (I think I'm going to swap the Emp400 with a second AC110 for higher turnover/flowrate and easier maintenance) and the one canister I'm running now in my 90g gives flow lengthwise across the top. With the 2 x 850gph Koralia's down low, I had almost no dead spots until I started planting it heavily, then a couple small spots under dense planted areas started. with the 180 I'm going to use the same filtration but add a large Eheim 2080 canister and switch to the 1500gph Koralia powerheads and see how it goes. If I need more I might add it.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Skip the HK powerheads. Get the Jebao line of powerheads. They are more powerful and hopefully longer-lasting.


What do they cost? I want Tunze PH's but they're so expensive.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

because of the down flow from your HOB, running directional water flow with powerhead is useless. Normally, if you are using canisters, I would recommend pointing both 1000+ GPH powerhead from the same sde of the tank to the end. But with HOB, the flow will reduce quite a bit.

Assuming your tank is with two center brace, I would keep both HOB on one end. Then I would add two 1000+ powerhead to the opposite end one pointing up and one pointing parallel in the middle on the side of your tank.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Contact Frank, the shrimp guy on BCA about Jebao powerheads.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

After hearing about Jebao,from Anthony,I looked into them. I decided that a wave maker may not be the right way to go.They create quite the waves. So you'd have to keep your water level low,which won't look too great in an African tank. I might buy one just to see,but still think opposite side flow is the way to go.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

charles said:


> because of the down flow from your HOB, running directional water flow with powerhead is useless. Normally, if you are using canisters, I would recommend pointing both 1000+ GPH powerhead from the same sde of the tank to the end. But with HOB, the flow will reduce quite a bit.
> 
> Assuming your tank is with two center brace, I would keep both HOB on one end. Then I would add two 1000+ powerhead to the opposite end one pointing up and one pointing parallel in the middle on the side of your tank.


Thanks for that advice! I can see how the two powerheads would point all the debris to the HOB filters at the opposite end and they can pick up more waste. They're a lot easier to clean and AC110's have pretty decent turnover (combined around 1000gph, if I'm not mistaken).


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## kacairns (Apr 10, 2012)

Vman said:


> After hearing about Jebao,from Anthony,I looked into them. I decided that a wave maker may not be the right way to go.They create quite the waves. So you'd have to keep your water level low,which won't look too great in an African tank. I might buy one just to see,but still think opposite side flow is the way to go.


If I'm understanding the above right you're saying you wouldn't use the jebao as its a wave maker? If that is what you're saying then for your information the Jebao pumps can function as just a power head or a wave maker, depending on the setting. H1 is high flow, H2, medium, H3 low (or other way around for the order) and the W1/2/3 settings are for waves instead of constant flow


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