Are Powerheads necessary?

SuperNinja

Plecostomus
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Apr 30, 2014
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Hi everyone,

i’ve been experimenting with everything in my tank. And now that i have an African arowana and Flagtail turning up the sand and cleaning everything in the tank. I’m wondering do we actually need powerheads/wave makers if we have active fish and high turnover?
 

Deadeye

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Aug 31, 2020
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Hi everyone,

i’ve been experimenting with everything in my tank. And now that i have an African arowana and Flagtail turning up the sand and cleaning everything in the tank. I’m wondering do we actually need powerheads/wave makers if we have active fish and high turnover?
Depends on the type of fish. Ones that don’t need particularly high flow don’t, but some rheophilic species or marine species need Powerheads to generate the high flow they naturally live with.
They also can provide exercise to fish that would turn boredom into aggression.
 

dr exum

Goliath Tigerfish
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Sep 29, 2007
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use them to keep detritus off the bottom between wc’s
 
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duanes

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You have an interesting dilemma, because you have fish that each prefer a different habitat
Flagtails (if you mean Flagtail Characin) prefer more water movement (coming from streams, shallower waters high in oxygen provided by current), than Arowana, which live in less current in oxbow parts of rivers.
Not that you can't compromise, but beyond just kicking up detritus, powerheads could be placed to provide a higher current area for the flag tails Maybe on one end of the tank, but allowing the other end a less turbulent area.
This seems entirely reasonable if you have a large enough tank for the fish.
Beside the normal flow from my sump, I add a powerhead to each tank to provide extra flow because my fish are riverine cichlids .
In my tanks, I aim flow across the length of the tank to similar the type riverine type flow they would encounter in nature.
E2101AE5-0397-4331-AD6B-A3B4FCE609AF_1_201_a.jpeg
above flow from sump, photo below the powerheads I like to use to spread a less focused flow.
D11754CE-A136-4E1E-A378-346E790977D0.jpeg.
 
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