Hydor Koralia powerheads... what power should I get?

[Cohazard]

I want to get some Hydor Koralia powerheads for my 120g (4'x2').


I want to use it to keep water flowing along the back of my tank where the plants are so that I don't get too many debris trapped there and not into the filters.


My question is, what power (GPH) would you recommend for this tank?

Thanks

 

[NSKIRK559]

Hydor Koralia powerheads... I have a 75gal with a Number 3 in it and works awesome for the flow rate and I have 125gal that has #3 in it as well. My other 125gal is running a #4 and I like the currenty and the flow rate on that one. I would say #3 is good for a 120gal here is a link for the flow rate hope it helps

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15955

 

[Will Hayward]

A three, or two twos would probably do nicely.

 

[wow_it_esploded]

I would say the biggest size you can afford, 3 probably being the best choice. The best thing about these powerheads are the fact that they spread the flow out and do not make jets of water in the tank.

Good luck!

 

[Cohazard]

Okay just got back from LFS and after pricing bigals, drfosters, and the LFS price, the LFS price won (if I included shipping and wait time for the online retailers), so I swooped up my first Koralia 3!

When I was researching earlier, I saw a thread where someone mentioned that the impeller only had support by the magnet and nothing on the other end, but that's actually not true, there is a small socket on the front where the other end of the impeller inserts into and is held in place.

I fired it up right now and this thing is powerful! Too powerful for what I was looking for originally, but that's okay.

What I did instead of pointing the koralia at my plants is to take the jet nozzle off the xp3 and add the spray bar and point that down at the plants, that gives me decent water movement without destroying the plants.

The koralia I'm pointing towards the front of the tank.

I tried it at mid heighth (12") and it was moving my gravel, so I will be moving to the top of the tank, pointed diagonaly towards the center of the front of the tank.


Thank you for the advice Will, WOW, and NSKIRK, I always appreciate it

 

[Will Hayward]

Awesome powerheads aren't they? I was thinking that the K3 might push on the plants too much, so I also suggested two K2s, one on each side pointing towards each other. Place your filter intake tube in the center of tank.

I was going to put a couple K4, K5 or K6s on my tank, but I'm thinking I'll just add some more FX5s. Heheh.

 

[Cohazard]

At first when I saw first hand how powerful it was, I thought perhaps two K2's would've been better.

But after adding the spraybar to the cannister and pointing the K3 towards the front of the tank, the extra power and good dispersion of water flow makes this setup work out better for what I was looking for.

 

[Deaths Sting]

i have a # 4 on my 120 does the job. its worth it to get the largest one then u have more options for the present and future. unless u got some weak lil fish that cant handle a lot of current.

 

[dmopar74]

When I was researching earlier, I saw a thread where someone mentioned that the impeller only had support by the magnet and nothing on the other end, but that's actually not true, there is a small socket on the front where the other end of the impeller inserts into and is held in place.

i said that, the impeller shaft IS held in place on the front and back, but the actuall impeller itself "floats" around the shaft with only the magnet to support the whole impeller assembly. atleast that was the case with my two koralia 1's, both of which i bought t the same time, so perhaps i got a bad batch.

EDIT: after googling "koralia vibrating" seems that my problems were only an issue with the #1's, which mine are, and about the same time mine went to crap, and only in saltwater(which is when mine went bad). go figure.