Looking to add current to my tank

[rcl]

I want to add strong current to my 120g tank but I don't know what I should use for this. I have an external eheim filter that takes water from my tank and then pushes it back in through a tube with holes in it (like a sprinkler). This is great and it really agitates the water, but I think I want more water movement.

I am looking at the eheim 'hobby' 1262; which does 900 gph of pumping and is listed as having an 11'6" "delivery head". I don't understand what that last bit means (is this an 11'6" 'sprinkler' tube like the one that comes off my filter?) and I don't know if this is what I really should be looking at?

Thanks for any help you guys have helped me so much so far

Robert

 

[crazie.eddie]

First, what kind of fish do you plan to have in the tank? Certain fish, like discus, will not like strong current and prefer still waters.

I believe the delivery head distance is the distance the pump can deliver in an upward direction.

WHat kind of filter are you using?

 

[rcl]

I'm looking at a lot of bottom dwellers such as clown loaches, pim pictus, and different plecos that I'm reading require stronger current (queen arabesque, L14 (goldie), and more) along with perhaps hatchetfish, angels, silver dollars, swordtails or mollies (not totally certain), and hopefully zebra danio so long as they don't chew up the angels.

I'm using the eheim 2217 external canister filter. I still don't know that I fully understand what the outtake on one of these pumps will look like, is it just a hose or would it be something that distributes water (or would this vary from product to product)?

Robert

 

[crazie.eddie]

The spray bar is very useful since it spreads the water through a greater area, causing a lot of water movement.

I would be careful about having too many pl*cos. Some get territorial, so it's best to provide lots of wood, rocks and slate to form little caves and such.

I'm not sure about keeping clown loaches along with the pl*cos. The reason is, clown loaches will probably hoard most of the food that is left on the bottom, such as bloodworms, carnivore pellets, zuchini, etc. Algae discs are the only foods the my clown loaches do not touch. Although some of the pl*cos will do ok with algae discs, the others may starve or may miss out on the nutrients that the bloodworms and stuff contain.

The same goes with the pictus. All three would compete each other for the good stuff.

I have heard certain types of hatchetfish can be fin nippers, so keeping them with angelfish would not be a good idea. I have heard the same with the zebra danios, but I never had that problem with I had zebra danios with my angelfish.

The clown loaches do not like fast moving fish, so the zebra danios and hatchetfish will not be could tankmates for them. The reason is, the clown loaches are VERY NERVOUS fish. If they see a fish darting rapidly, they will take it as a sign of danger and hide. I known when I had my zebra danios, my clown loaches stayed hidden most of the time. After getting rid of them, they (clown loaches) were more active.

The canister filter should deliver enough water current for the fish you have selected. You can always add a powerhead for additional current, which the fish would like.

 

[rcl]

Yeah I don't plan to get more than maybe 5 plecos, and all but maybe 2 being a small breed; which I don't think is too much for a 120gal with a large piece of mangrove root, several large/medium rocks, and several pieces of pvc pipe.

I am, however, somewhat worried about the loaches getting along with the other fish! And as far as the loaches being with other more active tankmates.. well I don't really know! I plan to introduce them probably first, but I guess also I maybe will have to look for other shoaling fish that are more calm perhaps. I have seen mollys and swordtails and even harlequin rasboras and all of these seem to be fit the bill and be appealing to me, does anybody have any opinions on these fish?

With feeding I'm not so concerned as the other aspects, I'm sure with enough patience and cleverness I can probably keep the fish from starving or becoming nutrient deficient (i think the plecos I'm looking at would all be happy with vegetables, and I could easily drop in several pieces of zucchini or such)

Thanks for your input

Robert

 

[drobbins27]

I dont know if this was mentioned somewhere in there because im in a hurry and dont have time to read it all, but fish love zucchini cuccumber and especially lettuce.

Sorry if this was said, just trying to help ya out

 

[crazie.eddie]

Just keep in mind. Pl*cos are bottom dwellers, so only the length and width of the tank will matter, not the height. So the 120 gallon tank for 5 pl*cos maybe not enough, unless you get the smaller species that are 4" in size or less. Certain pl*cos also prefer a varied diet of not only zuchini, algae discs, but bloodworms or carnivor pellets as well.

As you can see from my profile, I have harlequin rasboras with my clown loaches. They are all fine. Clown loaches like to have dithering fish to feel secure. They don't like fast moving fish, since to the loaches, this is a sign of the fish swimming away from danger.

Wth too many pl*cos you could stress out the clown loaches. Some pl*cos get territorial towards other bottom dwellers so the plecos will probably get chased around alot. Clown loaches are very succeptable to ich and with the constant bullying of some pl*cos, could probably stress the loaches enough to get ich. I have a 37 gallon tank with a Goldline tiger pl*co (4") and a Goldnugget pl*co. Even with lots of little caves, wood, and other hiding spots, the goldline tiger has pretty much taken over the bottom of the tank. It's a good think my goldnugget likes to chew on wood and some of my towering pieces of wood is high enough that the goldline tiger doesn't even notice the goldnugget.

 

[Samage]

(why do people keep calling em "pl*cos" anyway? What's wrong with PLECOs?)

 

[modernhamlet]

(why do people keep calling em "pl*cos" anyway? What's wrong with PLECOs?)

It's an old aquarium forum superstition:

Pl*co?
With the advent of email, the internet and particularly newsgroups, aquarists at all levels began talking about their plecos with an interesting side effect. According to on-line lore, an incident occurred when someone discussed their pleco in a newsgroup and the fish promptly died. The discussion group surmised there was an online curse and the pl*co superstition was born. The belief is that if your star out the "e" in pleco when you write pleco, then your beloved suckermouth will be delivered from all aquatic evils.

from: http/www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/c...t_say_pleco.htm

Ignore it or follow it as you see fit.

 

[SirMinion]

Well in that case, I have four Dwarf Puff*rs... can't be too carefull.

 

[crazie.eddie]

(why do people keep calling em "pl*cos" anyway? What's wrong with PLECOs?)

I've seen something similar on cichlid forms where people just type c*****d.