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Shrimp-safe power head ?

MichaelJ

Member
Joined
9 Feb 2021
Messages
3,350
Location
Minnesota, USA
Hello,
As my plant mass has become really dense in some areas, I am looking into optimize my flow a bit and looking for a small power head for my 150L tanks. Something that can be regulated, small size and something that won't chop up my shrimps or shimplets in case they get too close to the inlet... I've been scouring Amazon for ideas, but come up short thus far. Any ideas?

Cheers,
Michael
 
How small? I run a aquael pat mini for extra flow. It's a filter but pretty dinky and the sponge is shrimp safe.
Thanks @tam As small as possible... I really dont need much turnover from the pump, just a nice boost of flow near the bottom will suffice...The Aquael mini could be a solution... I wan't something that I can position at or near the bottom of the tank.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Ordered this adjustable internal sponge based filter - its small (12.7x4.3x5.5 cm) - smallest adjustable one I could find and hopefully shrimp safe. Should be easy to hide behind hardscape/plants and I figure I can put a short piece of tube on the outlet nozzle to adjust the direction of the flow... Will let the thread know how it works out.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Hi @tam , I received this internal sponge based filter last week, but didn't put it in... no way it would have been shrimplet save.... so instead I went to get the Aquael Pat Mini as you recommended (was hard to find here in the US btw.).... I just put it in. It's brilliant, perfectly easy to position, adjust and direct near the bottom of the tank where I needed that extra flow around my dense crypts ... perfectly shrimp safe... Should have listened to you on the first round! LOL ... would have saved me $20 ... thanks for the tip! :)

Cheers,
Michael
 
I'm using a sicce synchra nano. Baby shrimp could get into the intake but adults would be too big to fit. Love the Sicce pumps.
 
I'm using a sicce synchra nano. Baby shrimp could get into the intake but adults would be too big to fit. Love the Sicce pumps.
@Libba , Nah, that wouldn't work either... shrimplets wouldn't make it... but thanks for the tip! The Aquael Pat Mini seems to be the thing for me... Really only needed it for the flow situation due to plant density.
 
Hi @tam , I received this internal sponge based filter last week, but didn't put it in... no way it would have been shrimplet save.... so instead I went to get the Aquael Pat Mini as you recommended (was hard to find here in the US btw.).... I just put it in. It's brilliant, perfectly easy to position, adjust and direct near the bottom of the tank where I needed that extra flow around my dense crypts ... perfectly shrimp safe... Should have listened to you on the first round! LOL ... would have saved me $20 ... thanks for the tip! :)

Cheers,
Michael
Glad it's working for you :) I find them very handy for all sorts, they fit on this style air lift filter if you want to increase sponge area: Air Driven Sponge Filter Aquarium Fish Tank Bio-Sponge Filter Discus BABY BREED | eBay and I've used them to drive breeding boxes that are designed to be air powered. I also have a couple of spare sponges for them stuffed in a larger filter so I can pull them out for an instantly cycled filter.
 
Glad it's working for you :) I find them very handy for all sorts, they fit on this style air lift filter if you want to increase sponge area: Air Driven Sponge Filter Aquarium Fish Tank Bio-Sponge Filter Discus BABY BREED | eBay and I've used them to drive breeding boxes that are designed to be air powered. I also have a couple of spare sponges for them stuffed in a larger filter so I can pull them out for an instantly cycled filter.
Hi @tam That is good to know. I ordered a couple more actually, as I will deploy one in my 2nd tank as well and have a spare for eventualities...
Cheers,
Michael
 
Hi all,
Something that can be regulated, small size and something that won't chop up my shrimps or shimplets in case they get too close to the inlet...
I use a big sponge block on all my intakes, powerhead, <"HOB"> and canister filter.
but I use the same arrangement on the filter intakes. What you can't see is that the is a "collar" of foam around the base of the power-head to ensure a good fit in the drilled hole. I just DIY these from a foam sheet.

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I use a big block so I don't have to clean it very often and I don't need to worry about it clogging. The aim is to keep any debris out of the filter, but this also means that I don't get fish fry or shrimps in the filter and there is a large area of sponge surface for fry grazing etc.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
buy the sponge material and just cut them to the shape and size you need... If so, how do you cut out the hole for the intake?
The <"12" x 4" x 4" sponge blocks"> come with a drilled 30mm hole 3/4 of the way to the base. This is a bit big for for most of my filters, so I sew a foam collar to fit in the gap.

You can buy the foams as 4" x 4" x 4" cubes etc. and these are all drilled about 2/3 of the way down, but I just buy the 12" ones and stuff a some foam in the hole if I cut the big ones in half etc.

The foam sheets I sew together with nylon fishing line (or nylon button thread). You can see the <"wavy seam on the HOB one">, but I can do better than that.

cheers Darrel
 
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