# Powerhead purpose?



## MHarris9252 (Jan 15, 2006)

Excuse the ignorance of my question please, but what is the point of having a powerhead equipped onto my aquarium? Does this need to be used in conjunction with the filter? Is it good to have? Fresh or salt? Or both?

Basically I need someone to explain the powerhead and it's advantages, etc. THANKS!!!!


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## Reefneck (Oct 15, 2005)

A Powerhead provides circulation which is important in both freshwater and marine aquariums. They come in all different flow rates for different sized tanks. You would'nt want 1500GPH in a 20 gallon tank but 200GPH would be great. A lot depends on what you are keeping in the aquarium as to how many you need and how many GPH it should circulate.


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## MHarris9252 (Jan 15, 2006)

I just have a couple oscars and a catfish, crawfish and mangenese. I already have more than adequate filtration and plenty of aeration. Would a power head be benificial to get? 55 gal tank by the way.


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## Reefneck (Oct 15, 2005)

MHarris9252 said:


> I just have a couple oscars and a catfish, crawfish and mangenese. I already have more than adequate filtration and plenty of aeration. Would a power head be benificial to get? 55 gal tank by the way.


If you have good surface agitation I would say you really don't need one with those fish. Oscars don't tend to like hard current. They are slow movers (Unless they are chasing feeder fish). Powerheads mainly move water. More important in marine aquariums than in fresh but used in both.


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

I use one in my tank to aerate the water - I turn it on every few days for about 20 mins


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Powerheads were originally invented to sit atop undergravel filter riser tubes to replace the air bubbles with swifter, invisible current. That's how they got their name.
Nowadays we've found oodles of other uses for them, but the name has stuck.
They are good for providing water currents in a tank without creating bubbles or degassing the water, which is handy for heavily planted tanks, and they're especially useful in saltwater reef tanks for eliminating stagnant areas.

Most of them have a little venturi on them for air injection into the tank if you want it, and that can be useful too, like Georgia peach demonstrated.
To top it all off, many of them have reverse direction capability for specialized applications like reverse-flow undergravel filtration, and some even have self-oscillating nozzles to provide wave action in the tank. ( my idea, by the way )

A small one might be nice for your tank, but certainly not necessary. As already mentioned, Oscars aren't very fond of strong currents.


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