powerhead for loach tank?

[lissy]

Hello, just thought I'd introduce myself and ask for a bit of advice while I'm at it! I recently rescued 5 tiny, very ill looking clown loaches from a Pets at Home store up here in Scotland. Most of them had white spot and were looking very skinny. Since then I've nursed them back to health and they're all looking fat and happy. I've been keeping them in a very small quarintine tank for the last couple of months but am in the process of setting up a tank just for them. They'll be going into a Jewel Rio 240, which is about 4ft long (minimum for the moment I know!) but I really wanted to add an additional powerhead as in my experience there isn't very much water movement in the Jewel models. Does anybody have any thoughts on what sort of powerhead might be suitable? I appreciate any help you can give!

lissy

[Graeme Robson]

Hi Lizzy, Welcome to Loaches online.

Although the Jewel Rio tank have sufficient media for the tank size in question, they do tend to not produce enough water movement and circulation within the size of the power head. What you can do is add an internal filter with a venturi for aeration hose attached so that this adds oxygen to the tank.

Another idea is to remove the Jewel filtration system (which is easy) and add a external filter with a separate power head to provide water movements and aeration.

If you just want to add a power head, then a one with a venturi for aeration is best advised. So many to chose from, i cant advise on which product is best.

[lissy]

Thanks Graeme! I think I will remove the whole filteration system to be honest, I've had bad experiences with the Jewel ones before. I know it's difficult to advise on a brand but if anyone can think of something particulary good then let me know. I've never had to buy a whole external filter system before...