powerheads

[sissy]

Has anyone used one in there pond .Tammy my neighbor was really having a problem with her pond being green and we have tried everything ,well her brother was over and said something about powerheads in his big huge tank and how it circulates water .Well next thing we knew he went to get one of his older ones to try out and we rigged it to a pvc pipe I had with an end cap and we filled the pvc with rocks to weight it .We then figure how to put the powerhead on and we have been watching it change everyday for the better ,Well now the pond is clean and clear .This one says low energy consumption on it and is called a koralia 1050 .He said it cost him about 30 dollars .She has an oxygen pump a pondmaster one .But this really puts out a lot of water and bubbles and the fish seem to love playing in it ..It looks like a fan blade inside and a pump thing .Sticks out a little from the side of the pond but realy gives a pretty air bubble effect.I have been looking at them online at big als.com and it seems they work great at making it look like a spraying stream .Anyone ever use them on there tanks they have or possibly try them in there ponds .

 

[addy1]

I used them in my 175 gallon fish tank sissy, they do work great. And what a neat idea you two came up with!

 

[sissy]

I don't quite understand them though are they just like a pump and could you rig up a pump to do the same thing .I can see online they are not expensive so why don't they make them for ponds to circulate the water .I can see some come as big as 1500 gph

 

[ididntdoit99]

I used to run dual powerheads in my 55 gallon fish tank, I reall dont remember it adding alot of bubbles to the stream (maybe it did, that was a long time ago) But really it seems that she could have achieved the same result with another pond pump, Thats what the powerhead is, a 1050gph pump. Question is, (and im no expert here) but how well are those powerheads built to withstand the sludge that will eventually build up in them. Obviusoly they can handle some, as no Aquarium is perfectly clean, but my aquarium is definately a lot cleaner than my pond.

 

[sissy]

We have been checking it and seems nothing so far has built up .But I did put one of her airstones next to it 3 days ago and it really makes it bubble more .I'm just not sure how long these things will hold up .I just read at big als you can put them on timers ,but then if it was on a timer it would have a chance to build up more gunk on it .So far it is still as clean as it was the day we put it in .I have had to adjust the way we installed it a couple of times to keep it from moving ,but that was just adding a few more rocks inside the pvc and using a zip tie on the stake we put in the ground instead of a string to hold the thing better.Doesn't look so pretty but works .Told her to get ceramic pot to hide it for now

 

[sissy]

oh and the other thing that concerns me is how deep can you put this thing and what can really happen if the water level goes under it ,it could burn out then .How deep can these things go .Tammy's brother said he keeps his in his tank about 12 inches below the water level .If they go deeper will you still get the same effect and in a pond lower could mean a buildup of gunk on it .Those are some of the thing I am trying to figure out .A pump side ways in the pond ,going to try that next to see if it gives the same effect .I have a smaller pump with rubber feet on it ,maybe that will work

 

[ididntdoit99]

Well I looked around the net a little bit and it seems a lot of the Powerhead manufacturers are selling them as aqauarium/pond powerheads so I guess they must be okay. I guess if you have a good filter setup so you arent suck debris into the pump, it really doesnt matter what you use.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Kingwaterpump.html

I think one of the normal shaped powerheads would be alot easier to deal with than that koralia 1050, I've never seen a powerhead like that before.

 

[sissy]

I have never saw a power head .I just don't understand how they can have a lot lower power consumption than a regular pump .If she has that great aerator and good filtering and her water was green and then we rig this and each day you could see a difference ? I am at a loss for words which LOL is not normal for me .

 

[sissy]

The one they show in that sight you can add an air hose even better and I saw one that rotates from side to side.Wait by the looks of it it just sucks air in hmmm interesting

 

[fishin4cars]

The biggest issue with a power head is going to be clogging, The impeller design is not very good for string algae at all. You can use them in a pond no problem if you can keep any trash from getting inside the impeller housing. The deeper they are placed the less air you will get out of the out flow tip, However you can hook the air pump up directly to a powerhead for added bubbling action. I've run them on temporary pond set ups for circulation and added oxygen but running them as full time pumps I just don't think they will hold up as well as a pond pump.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Well what size pond does she have? And what size pump was she running before the powerhead? I dont think it really mattered that it was a powerhead, if you suddenly start filtering and moving an extra 1050 gph from what she was before, thats going to clear it up pretty quick, whether is was a powerhead or a regular pump.

I know that was how it worked when I broke down and added a second pump. I kept draining my pond to do this or that, and everytime, I did, I decided I needed to make it just a little deeper, or bigger in some way, until my pump just couldnt quite keep up anymore. Threw a second pump in there (keep in mind, I didn't even build a filter setup for the second one, it just has the foam filter that is attached to the pump) and just the extra 900 gph of moving water cleared it up in a few days.

 

[sissy]

she only has a 500 gallons more or less not sure pond and her pump is for 1260 gph and she has a fountain head and a uv working and this power head is not going to anything and she has a big stock tank with plants in it and 1 big plant ring with plants plus the air pump .She is using lava rock like I do or at least now she is before she was using filters .We have been trying to figure it out and her pond gets shade also most of the day .The aerator she has hooked up to the filter plus 2 large air stones in the pond .She had a barrel filter but deer ran it down and cracked it .She had it well hidden but when deer get scared they scatter fast .

 

[sissy]

We also live on the southside of VA and it has been over 95 here and gets down to 55 and 60 at night big swings in temps.

 

[bsr8129]

why couldnt you just put a pond pump, something small on its side. Would work the same way, i have one in my pond. Its adds circualtion so all of the crap on one side of the pond gets pushed down to the other side where the filter pump is located.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Hmm, puzzling yes, if her pond is only 500 gallons and the pump was 1260 gph, that should be suffecient. But its all about location also, she may have stagnant areas of the pond that werent being filtered well, and now with good water movement, the filter is getting a chance to filter more than it did before.

I'm no where close to an expert, but it seems like the same scenerio I had. I dropped this pump down into my water (link below) Just a cheapy I brought from harbor frieght. It has that "t" valve at the bottom so I opened both valves wide open and it sits pretty close to the edge of the pond. With the side valve wide open, it gets a good current going around my pond and mine cleared up very well in just a few days. It has a pretty decent size foam filter on it, so it doesnt clog up. But I really dont think its doing alot of the filtering either, just moving water.

http://hfreviews.com/item.php?id=8477

like bsr8129 said, we are pretty much doing the same thing with with our pond pumps as she is doing with the powerhead. Either way, it works! Just dont question it and it'll keep working