New to powerheads, need some advice on setup

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Having never used a powerhead before, I have some questions about their setup that Google searching, rather annoyingly, was unable to give me direct answers to.

1) Is it detrimental to the powerhead to run with the intake below water but the output straddling the waterline and everything above the output above the water? The reason I ask this is because I want to put as much emphasis as possible on churning the surface of the water to get maximum dissolved oxygen, which running the powerhead below the water will do little to none of.

2) If I were to run some powerheads on the back of the tank, would the constant force of flowing water weaken and/or bust the silicone connection of the front pane of glass? Because that is an obvious undesirable.

3) I know I can circumvent the flow issue of having 2 powerheads on opposite ends of the tank by ensuring the output does not intersect. But that brings me to another question: would I need to worry about the outputs of powerheads placed on the sides and back of the tank intersecting each other (they would at a 90 degree angle) and reducing the overall surface tension?

Thanks!

 

[jjohnwm]

Having never used a powerhead before, I have some questions about their setup that Google searching, rather annoyingly, was unable to give me direct answers to.

1) Is it detrimental to the powerhead to run with the intake below water but the output straddling the waterline and everything above the output above the water? The reason I ask this is because I want to put as much emphasis as possible on churning the surface of the water to get maximum dissolved oxygen, which running the powerhead below the water will do little to none of.

2) If I were to run some powerheads on the back of the tank, would the constant force of flowing water weaken and/or bust the silicone connection of the front pane of glass? Because that is an obvious undesirable.

3) I know I can circumvent the flow issue of having 2 powerheads on opposite ends of the tank by ensuring the output does not intersect. But that brings me to another question: would I need to worry about the outputs of powerheads placed on the sides and back of the tank intersecting each other (they would at a 90 degree angle) and reducing the overall surface tension?

Thanks!

1) I'd check the manufacturer's instruction pamphlet for the particular model you want to buy. I haven't used powerheads for quite a while, but I seem to recall that those I had were marked with a line indicating the minimum depth to which they needed to be submerged. Certainly, complete submersion would provide optimum cooling for the motor. If you are worried about maximum oxygenation, get a model that incorporates an air venturi that draws air from above the surface and injects it into the water stream; probably the best aeration could provide. If you mount the head with the impeller just at the surface, any slight drop in water level could result in problems.

2) You worry way too much!

3) See above answer. Just experiment with placement and angle to get the effect you want. We're keeping fish, not programming the computer controlling an interstellar voyage.