Water movement in a FW tank????

[squirt_12]

should you have fairly good water movement in a FW tank???? kinda like a SW tank but a little less powerful???

the reason that i am asking is because in my 10g the water movement is bad and my plants just sit there and don't move....also i have been getting some green gunk building up on my hornwort and i was advised that i should buy a little powerhead for the tank.

if i should have more circulation....what kind of powerhead should i buy????

[cocoa_pleco]

usually the filter provides enough movement. In FW tanks the only reason for powerheads is flow in long or tall tanks, to power UGF's, or for overstocked tanks.

i think youre fine without one

[Algenco]

most plants benefit from a little current, gently swaying looks cool, you want enough current to prevent cold and/or stagnant areas, but not so much that the plants get beat up. Also you want to accomplish this with minimal surface disturbance so as not to outgas the CO2

[squirt_12]

ok....do you know of what he green gunk could be on my hornwort though???

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
it looks somewhat the same to the picture in the link....tha gunk was also on my heater and started to spread to my glass.

thanks cocoa.

[squirt_12]

most plants benefit from a little current, gently swaying looks cool, you want enough current to prevent cold and/or stagnant areas, but not so much that the plants get beat up. Also you want to accomplish this with minimal surface disturbance so as not to outgas the CO2
see thats the thing.....about only half the tank benefits from the little current from my filter. so thats why i thought i should ask.

[Dave66]

should you have fairly good water movement in a FW tank???? kinda like a SW tank but a little less powerful???

the reason that i am asking is because in my 10g the water movement is bad and my plants just sit there and don't move....also i have been getting some green gunk building up on my hornwort and i was advised that i should buy a little powerhead for the tank.

if i should have more circulation....what kind of powerhead should i buy????


Squirt
For circulation, you should aim for a broad oval; that is, the filter outflow runs along the back glass, sweeps around the end, goes across the front of the tank, around the other end and to the filter inflow. Its a bunch easier to do this with a canister filter. I know they make little ones for 10s that push fifty or sixty GPH for about 25 bucks. You can't change the flow direction with HOBs; you can with canisters.
A little mag-drive pump rated for 30 GPG and stuck horizontal on the back glass and you'll have the oval flow. I think Little Giant makes mag drive pumps small enough for your tank.

Dave

[Algenco]

ok....do you know of what he green gunk could be on my hornwort though???

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
it looks somewhat the same to the picture in the link....tha gunk was also on my heater and started to spread to my glass.

thanks cocoa.

If its really soft, slimy and comes off easily its cyano, it also smells foul

[squirt_12]

If its really soft, slimy and comes off easily its cyano, it also smells foul
it doesn't smell though.....thats the thing.


Dave....where could i get one of those??? Does a place like Pet Smart carry them??? thanks for all of the info...it has really helped.

[Incredulous_Ed]

petsmart should carry them. Be careful not to have too much movement on the hornwort, as it will start to grow thin and weak stalks.

[squirt_12]

ok.....this is all very confusing to me....

[Dave66]

Dave....where could i get one of those??? Does a place like Pet Smart carry them??? thanks for all of the info...it has really helped.

Ask and you shall receive: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
My usual Quiet One mag drives don't make one small enough for a 10, unfortunately.
Dave

[squirt_12]

since i have been told that i should have a little more circulation kind of going around the tank at the back somehow.......could i get something like this and then just position it the right way so that it does what it should do to get more circulation??? i can get something with a little less power if i need to...but this is what i was thinking:
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

would something like that work????

EDIT - sorry but i just don't understand this thing that is in my tank and how to get rid of it...

also i would get a powerhead (if i should get one) that i can suction to the wall.

[squirt_12]

So what do you say????? yes i should....no i shouldn't???

i could always get it because they arn't too expensive and if it messes everything up i can either take it back or just put it in my 33g.

[Rue]

Well...for $10 you could try the little powerhead...worst case, you end up with too much flow...then you could take it out again...

As far as the algae...what I did in my SW tank was to scrub it constantly (every 2 days) with a dedicated toothbrush...that did it in eventually!

If you do an algae scrub...do it FIRST...then let the filter clear the water ...

THEN do your water-change and rinse the filters! That way your remove all the stuff you scrubbed off and your tank will clear up faster!

[cocoa_pleco]

personally i say skip the powerhead

[squirt_12]

so don't get the powerhead???? or get it???? because the algae stuff is on the hornwort and i can't scrub it off.

[cocoa_pleco]

if youve got the algae issue try a small powerhead

[squirt_12]

yeah it started out small and then it started to spread all around the tank....so i think i will spend about $10-20 for a little powerhead and see what happens.

[cocoa_pleco]

should clear it up, i think this cyano is the same as that ugly red stuff in reefs that is from lack of flow.

[squirt_12]

should clear it up, i think this cyano is the same as that ugly red stuff in reefs that is from lack of flow.
yeah i am pretty sure it is from the lack of flow because the whole one half of the tank doesn't get any flow at all.

So what is this thing called again?? is it just cyano??

[cocoa_pleco]

yep, cyano. its ugly and goopy. lol

i guarantee if you get flow it will clear up

[Rue]

Um...no!

'Cyano' is short for 'Cyanobacteria', which is also known as Cyanophyta or blue-green algae...

But I still don't know for sure if that's what you have...

...and now I'm gonna quote myself again:

Well...for $10 you could try the little powerhead...worst case, you end up with too much flow...then you could take it out again...

As far as the algae...what I did in my SW tank was to scrub it constantly (every 2 days) with a dedicated toothbrush...that did it in eventually!

If you do an algae scrub...do it FIRST...then let the filter clear the water ...

THEN do your water-change and rinse the filters! That way your remove all the stuff you scrubbed off and your tank will clear up faster!

[cocoa_pleco]

lol, im confused, but flow should get rid of it. i had some of that green goop on my LR in my 55g in the early stages but with added flow it went away itself

[squirt_12]

WEll i went to my LFS and bought the powerhead and it is an Aqua Clear (the only kind they had for the size i was looking for) rated for 5-10 gallons. It works great and has good flow to it. So i put it into the tank at the very back and is hitting the spot on the hornwort where the stuff "Cyano" is.

[squirt_12]

should i have positioned it a different way or is that fine how i positioned it???

[Rue]

Since your using the flow to get rid of the cyano...then you have it positioned correctly.

[squirt_12]

ok...i didn't know if i had to position it a certain way or not...so it is just the flow which will get rid of it??
thats cool. once it is gone should i keep the powerhead going to keep it from coming back??

[Rue]

Not necessarily...if it's gone, it may stay gone...

...or not...

No telling beforehand...

[squirt_12]

so i should leave it going for atleast a while after it is gone.....thats what i will do.

thanks for all of the help.