venzi Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 Hi. I have a 20H tank. Would it be too much current/water flow if I used a low powered wave maker to create turbulence at the top of the water column for platys or white cloud minnows or zebra danios? Would the fish be stressed out? Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 Hello! Welcome to the forum. May I ask what your logic is for wanting to add this? I think you'd be better with 1-2 airstones as opposed to a wavemaker. A lot of times some species get marked as "high flow" but what they really want is very cool, highly oxygenated water, in addition to normal tank flow. If you were to try the wavemaker I'd ask what GPH it is and trying to make sure it's not too strong. I would also suggest something to make sure fish can't get into the grille. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venzi Posted July 28, 2022 Author Share Posted July 28, 2022 Hi @nabokovfan87, So I started out with a nano tank and when I tried an air stone in the nano tank, I noticed the bubbles popping at the surface would cause a significant spraying effect on the tank lid. So I figure if it's just turbulent water, then there'd be less of that. For my 20H tank, I'm using a glass lid so if I could avoid all that water spraying onto the lid, then that'd probably be good (to avoid excess algae or mineral buildup on the glass. But this is just my educated guess. Not sure if the air stone and bubbles would behave differently in the 20H tank. The other issue is the cost and noise of an air pump relative to either a wave maker or even a power head. I got the smallest tetra whisper 10g air pump and that is far too noisy for me, but pretty cheap (~$6). So I tried the Nicrew nano air pump (~$15) and that's definitely quieter, but it's more costly and I doubt I'm getting good aeration with it. So I'd have to buy at least 2 of the nicrew nano pumps. On a related note, I've been researching under gravel filters and I'm pretty sure I want to use an UGF with a power head. So if that's the case, then perhaps definitely the wave maker would be overkill for a 20H (regardless of the power of the wave maker). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 7/27/2022 at 10:22 PM, venzi said: So I started out with a nano tank and when I tried an air stone in the nano tank, I noticed the bubbles popping at the surface would cause a significant spraying effect on the tank lid. So I figure if it's just turbulent water, then there'd be less of that. For my 20H tank, I'm using a glass lid so if I could avoid all that water spraying onto the lid, then that'd probably be good (to avoid excess algae or mineral buildup on the glass. But this is just my educated guess. Not sure if the air stone and bubbles would behave differently in the 20H tank. There will be a slight different. Is the airstone you have adjustable? The ziss ones and other plastic designed ones are adjustable, finer bubbles would cause less of that splash. What you're saying makes absolute sense. I think what you're looking for is probably something that has a spraybar on it! The power head might be able to be modded with some sort of a DIY spraybar output or to have some output that will cause the disturbance on the surface you're looking for. What filtration is currently on the tank? You mentioned wanting to use UGFs and that makes sense, again, a good candidate for a spraybar output potentially. The only real difference being that the spraybar vs. the wave maker would mean it's less of a risk of something getting into the blades. They do have some wave makers that have a sort of foam cap or cover that would protect from that as well. On 7/27/2022 at 10:22 PM, venzi said: So I tried the Nicrew nano air pump (~$15) and that's definitely quieter, but it's more costly and I doubt I'm getting good aeration with it. So I'd have to buy at least 2 of the nicrew nano pumps. Might be enough. please feel free to share a video if you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venzi Posted July 28, 2022 Author Share Posted July 28, 2022 So the tetra 10g air pump definitely has more power (or air output) compared to the nicrew nano pump. However, when I tried the nicrew pump on the same air stone, the bubbles were smaller and it created almost like a foaming effect, where the bubbles were starting to stack on each other at the surface. I didn't know about spraybars or adjustable air stones. Good to know. Thanks. 🙂 The 20H tank is not live yet. I'm new to the hobby and I learned a few things from owning a nano tank (lots of failures) and now I'm trying to set myself up for success w/ this 20H tank. At first, I was planning to use sponge filters (like 2 small ones for redundancy), but I think the UGF + power head combo makes so much more sense for me considering things like aesthetics (concealed look of the UGF), noise, cost, ease of maintenance and far greater filtering capacity (at least compared to the small sized sponge filter I was considering). And I just found out there's power heads that can create bubbles as well (then I wouldn't even have to worry about clogged air stones) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon p Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 7/27/2022 at 2:01 PM, venzi said: Hi. I have a 20H tank. Would it be too much current/water flow if I used a low powered wave maker to create turbulence at the top of the water column for platys or white cloud minnows or zebra danios? Would the fish be stressed out? Thanks. No at all. I use one the hardest thing is finding one that is small enough. I used Amazon and sent 4 back because they were to l much. Thevlabels aren’t always right or on is stronger that the other. Have you considered a small powerhead. They make them very small now and quiet. Toss an intake sponge on and if you had worries about fish going through the wavemaker. I have a bunch of tanks and try different things. Both do what you want. I think toss 2 are going to be the quietest. I do think that a rain maker is a possibility. I have all but the rain maker. The air stones I would stay away from if noise is something you are thinkings a out. I am a champion on UGF with power heads. If you want video of the wave maker, power head, and power head with UGF I can make them today. Let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venzi Posted July 28, 2022 Author Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 7/28/2022 at 12:54 AM, Brandon p said: No at all. I use one the hardest thing is finding one that is small enough. I used Amazon and sent 4 back because they were to l much. Thevlabels aren’t always right or on is stronger that the other. Have you considered a small powerhead. They make them very small now and quiet. Toss an intake sponge on and if you had worries about fish going through the wavemaker. I have a bunch of tanks and try different things. Both do what you want. I think toss 2 are going to be the quietest. I do think that a rain maker is a possibility. I have all but the rain maker. The air stones I would stay away from if noise is something you are thinkings a out. I am a champion on UGF with power heads. If you want video of the wave maker, power head, and power head with UGF I can make them today. Let me know. Oh cool @Brandon p. Yea I'd love to see how you have your UGF powerhead setup. What size aquarium are you running the UGF and power heads? What type of fish do you have in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon p Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 7/28/2022 at 12:36 PM, venzi said: Oh cool @Brandon p. Yea I'd love to see how you have your UGF powerhead setup. What size aquarium are you running the UGF and power heads? What type of fish do you have in there? I’ll take them when I get home. I have one on 20gal and two on 55g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon p Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 On 7/28/2022 at 12:36 PM, venzi said: Oh cool @Brandon p. Yea I'd love to see how you have your UGF powerhead setup. What size aquarium are you running the UGF and power heads? What type of fish do you have in there? I have a 20g that has shrimp, black loaches, neons, and snails. I the video I turned up the CO2 so you can see that it’s not super powerful but moves the water. I only have one powerhead in the 20 because a second would be to much. The second tank is a 55g I have divided and 2 pairs of breeding angels one on each size. That tank is different it has a course filter on top of the UGF and them moss growing on and on top of the filter pad. I did this so flow would be even. If the fish moved the moss there would still be the same Resistance and not one spot pulled more water through it. It had to power heads. One is aquarium co-op and I really like it. It pretty strong I don’t think I would put it in a 20g. Even in the 55 I have it so that it hits the glass and then sends the water around. The second powerhead is from Amazon I bought before the coop had them. I don’t normally have an airline on it but I did it so you could see. It’s not connected to an air pump it sucks air through an airline tubing just out side the tank. Sorry about the film it’s blue spiralina powder. If you want more or different pics I can get them. The 20 gal 55 gallon coop powerhead Amazon powerhead Side view Wave maker. In 55 gal I use it for a little flow for the trio of king tiger plecos. They like a little movement along the bottom. There is a video but you can’t see much in moved it down hoping you could see the sand move. I have a second one in a 20 gal but it’s in a spot I can’t really get a good picture 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venzi Posted July 29, 2022 Author Share Posted July 29, 2022 wow thank you @Brandon p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon p Posted July 29, 2022 Share Posted July 29, 2022 On 7/29/2022 at 2:06 AM, venzi said: wow thank you @Brandon p Your welcome. I hope it give some idea. I breed in the one with the wave maker and the 2 powerheads. The possibilities are endless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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