Powerhead Heat Output

[Donya]

I have a Zoo Med PS-20 rotating pump that does 160gph in my 5-gallon pico. It's been fine for a long time, and the last couple weeks it started getting a little warmmer than normal and raised the tank temperature a bit. I took it apart, found tons of junk inside that was inhibiting the impeller movement, and put it back together once cleaned out. The manget was a solid encrusted ball, so I scraped all the encrusted stuff off figuring friction from that was creating the heat, but it's heating up even more now! It put my tank at 82 degrees F over a day, up from 74-76 I'm concerned that it could go out of the temperature tollerance range of my snails. Anybody have ideas for what might be causing it to do that? Is there some way to stop it from producing so much heat?

 

[superman]

I guess that I would ditch the zoomed. They are not the best made powerheads in the first place, now that yours is going bad consider it a chance to upgrade to a couple of small maxijets. If you want randomized flow then get one of those natural wave powerstrips (NOT the coralife powerstrip) and put a couple of super small maxijet pumps on it.

 

[steelhealr]

I agree with Superman. Maxijets are good pumps. BTW, my tank runs near 82..depending on what you have in there, that is an 'OK' marine tank temp. SH

 

[Donya]

The unheated tanks right next to it are about 70F, which is why I'm concerned...it's quite a bit warmer in the tank than the ambient temperature, so it could go haywire at the first temperature increases from outside. I'm not all that bothered about mixing up the flow at this point, just flow rate. I'll have a look for the maxijets. I have another smaller pump I may use in the mean time if the zoomed pump keeps getting worse.

 

[Donya]

AGH! I will either have to order a Maxijet online, find a different brand, or do a long drive. No place within reasonable distance has Maxijets. Any other brand recommendations?

The non-Zoomed options I've seen so far are:
- Aquaclear 301 badly price gouged $40 locally--I'd have to get it online instead
- Penguin powerheads, out of stock right now in the stores.
- Whisper internal filters/pumps

 

[superman]

Penguins aren't that bad, but maxijets would be worth ordering. IMO get the maxijets

 

[Aquascaper]

Have you considered a small inline pump outside the tank? That would solve the problem of the equipment heating the water and reduce the amount of ugly equipment in what is a small tank anyway.

 

[Donya]

I do have a new pump now from my dad; it's not a maxi-jet, but I am relieved my tank is back to around 74 again. I'm going to swap the zoo med into another tank that won't have any effect from the heat, and then later down the line see about finding a maxi-jet online. I may as well save up and go for one of the 200+ gph models so I can use it on something larger eventually. If I'd had a few weeks to pump hunt with the tank safe, then I would have been able to do that anyway, but I needed something quickly after finding out today that my intended "backup" pump would only put out a trickle of water.

I considered trying to do something outside the tank, but couldn't find a way to do it easily. The zoo-med filter wouldn't sit very far above the waterline because it's kind of an open-to-the-outside disign...sucks air in too easily. On the other hand, my new pump would allow hooking up with tubing ouside the tank quite easily. I may do that just to be on the safe side and eliminate tank clutter.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone! I really appreciate it.

 

[Matty]

well, if it heats up your tank like that while still doing its its job, why not switch off the heater and let the powerhead do the heating? Its like 2 in 1!

 

[Donya]

well, if it heats up your tank like that while still doing its its job, why not switch off the heater and let the powerhead do the heating? Its like 2 in 1!

The heater was unplugged the whole time

 

[Matty]

whoa! definately time for a replacement then!

 

[Donya]

This new pump really puts my zoo med to shame lol. It's an aquatic gardens 601, 200gph...pretty compact and making my Astrea snails very happy with the 40x turnover glad I have the extra gph on there.

 

[Matty]

its not too powerful though is it?

 

[Donya]

Nah it's fine. I'm not sure a fish would like it in there, but the snails sure do When the zoo med pump was still working a few months ago, I had the snails in a 2-gallon with it while adjusting them to the right sg, and they seemed to love it...sloshed water all over the place and made a mess, but they're tidal rocky beach snails so they like a lot of turbulance.

 

[JJ1234567]

I have micro jets in my ten gallon nano, and I love em. They are small and have variable speeds.