Circulation

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splurge23

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2016
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I have a 180 gallon glass tank that is new it's still cycling I want to add a circulation my plan is to have a cichlid tank I don't want to use air stone so what's a good circulation or wave pump ?
 
I have a 180 gallon glass tank that is new it's still cycling I want to add a circulation my plan is to have a cichlid tank I don't want to use air stone so what's a good circulation or wave pump ?

I have two 180's and use the jebao RW range. There's four in the range, the RW4, RW8, RW15 and the RW20. I started off with the RW20 in one of them and was astonished how powerful it was on top speed (the full range is variable speed which is brilliant). This thing shifts 20000 litres of water an hour on its top speed and literally makes my 180 look like a whirlpool. I run it on its lowest setting. So when I decided to get one for my other 180 I dialled it right back and got the RW4. The RW4 is OK, I run it on its top speed to achieve the movement I like though in all honesty I should have gone RW8 and then used the variable speed adjuster on it to tweak it. I have mine on timers too so I only have them on a few hours each day.

I find the RW's to be brilliant but I haven't used any other brand, which there are many, some a lot cheaper than the RW's, some more expensive than the RW's. So I can only give you a biased opinion really on my own usage.

One thing's for sure though, powerheads are brilliant for moving water. They get rid of dead spots, they help shift waste so it goes into your filtration system instead of sitting on the bottom of your tank and my fish love the movement (not all types of fish like turbulence though).
 
I have two 180's and use the jebao RW range. There's four in the range, the RW4, RW8, RW15 and the RW20. I started off with the RW20 in one of them and was astonished how powerful it was on top speed (the full range is variable speed which is brilliant). This thing shifts 20000 litres of water an hour on its top speed and literally makes my 180 look like a whirlpool. I run it on its lowest setting. So when I decided to get one for my other 180 I dialled it right back and got the RW4. The RW4 is OK, I run it on its top speed to achieve the movement I like though in all honesty I should have gone RW8 and then used the variable speed adjuster on it to tweak it. I have mine on timers too so I only have them on a few hours each day.

I find the RW's to be brilliant but I haven't used any other brand, which there are many, some a lot cheaper than the RW's, some more expensive than the RW's. So I can only give you a biased opinion really on my own usage.

One thing's for sure though, powerheads are brilliant for moving water. They get rid of dead spots, they help shift waste so it goes into your filtration system instead of sitting on the bottom of your tank and my fish love the movement (not all types of fish like turbulence though).
This is great info here. I am running a pair of hydor wavemakers on my 180. I have a bit of a dead spot one one side of my tank so I put them in just to add some movement. They work but don’t seem to have any adjustments that I know of, just plug in, and it’s on.

I got them from a friend who was setting up a reef tank and wanted them to cycle back and forth on a timer with out a click noise each time it switches over (hydor timer switch does this). He is now running with jabeo and seems to be happy with it.

So if you want fancy, timed, tunable, go with jabeo. But if you want cheap and easy, hydor seems to be fine. I have only had it going for about a month or so. Haven’t had much time for it to be bad yet. Lol.
 
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Not t a wave pump, but maxi-jet powerheads have always worked well for me for water movement and are fairly cheap. Though every now and then I'll get one that buzzes, overall they do well.
 
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Jebao wavemakers are awesome. But for the money. Tbey only last about a year and they crap out. I have gone through about 6. And they stick out of the aquarium alot I have the new slim wave maker that are awesome
 
Cichlids dont need a lot of flow but I always ran a pair of Koralia evolutions. I like how the flow is more spread out.
 
I use a 48" pvc 1/2 pipe as a return. Set behind the trim , it uses suction cups on the end caps.
It has 1/8" holes drilled about every 6 inches with holes every 3" on the end farthest from the corner overflow.

I custom tuned it to a 450 GPH little giant mag pump.

Then I have a small wave maker in the far back corner. And a 2" air lift.

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