Looking for a better way to attach powerheads...
 

So I came home today to a bare bottom in one corner of my tank and a mountain in the middle. An MJ1200 fell and was about 18" from the sand. I had removed the suction cups yesterday to remove some Dictyota that was growing on the back of the powerhead. Does anyone know of a better way to attach powerheads so this won't happen again?

Hey Teevee, talk to Kari, he has some rather ingenious methods of attaching powerheads to moveable plexiglass mounts. Really quite a cool idea! :cool:

I know of some people that use magnets. Not sure if that could affect performance though.

Wherever possible in my tank I'm using the clips instead of the suction cups for my MJ1200's.

Suction cups SUCK and get me a little cranky so I turfed them all. If you want, I can make as many acrylic power head hangers as you need. They cost less to make than buying replacement sucky cups.
All I use is a bent or glued U shaped piece of acrylic with the power head bracket bolted on it with nylon bolts thru the supplied hanger. For the wavemaker I made a tee shaped bracket which holds up to 3 powerheads. Nice and easy for cleaning power heads or sliding them around the tank for different current needs or cleaning the glass. Only problem is that I think your tank has an enclosed wooden canopy if I remember right.
Give me a call for canopy description and I will make an adjustable hanger that you can attach to the inside of your canopy. Or make a few measurement notes, drop by and we'll make something together that suits your needs.

Christyf5 - there wasn't much ingenuity used. I hear some PH's come with similar but fancier versions. So much for me becoming a millionare inventing paper clip like ideas.

Kari

Well Kari, I had never seen it before and it looked pretty cool to me :wink: Unfortunately my tank has an enclosed hood so I am SOL on the hanging powerhead idea. My suction cups have worked fine and I haven't had any problems with them so far.

Christy :)

Kari, I want to make you a little richer. I would be pleased if you could make me hangers for my 900, and 600 powerheads. I will say, however, that suction cups WILL work, but you have to ensure the glass is absolutely clean. My 900 and 600 have been attached with suction cups for more than six months. :biggrin:

I agree, I think it has something to do with the algae I have on my glass. I cleaned it off and it seemed to be holding, but then I decided to use the clips included. For my other three powerheads that wouldn't work, because they are under my eurobracing, but this one is on my overflow so it worked well.

Do you guys use those little thingies that spread the water out like a fan? I put one on, I hadn't noticed them before, but it seems to reduce water flow significantly. And it's ugly.

I've never been successful with getting them to stay on. They have quite a loose fit and shoot off into the tank whenever I try to use them. You are right though Quinn, they are ugly.

Christy :)

Mine is wedged on because I forced it over all the coraline on the output.

Hi,

Yah...I hate suction cups too! I glue my MJ1200 mounting brackets to cleaning magnets. Seems to work well.

- Victor.

I used the long black clips that came with the powerheads, I just bent them up so they would hang on the side of the tank.

Steve

Kari, six please, send invoice. :biggrin: :cool:

Eventhough you may not have invented it ........ they were very cool. I would have never thought of it.

Cheers,
Victor [Veng68]

Whats the solution to get around euro bracing?

All my little brain can come up with is acrylic.

Yah me too. Just wondering if anyone had a cool idea. Hangers like the Tunze streams would be awesome. My suction cups are loosing power. One fell off but landed on the rocks but I have had it where the powerhead makes a crater and sandstorm in other tanks :evil:

There is supposed to be a ridge or a clip that it clicks onto it. Once there is the slightest amount of coraline or other algae they become impossible to push and click into place (I end up pushing so hard I swear I am about to break the stupid thing). But if it is not clicked into place just right then it is just a loose fit and no amount of begging/hoping it will stay in place will work, it will eventually fly off.

Quinn they don't reduce flow (not significantly anyways) they just diffuse flow (so you don't notice the flow as much, because you have less velocity). If it's surface agitation you're after then you'll notice more visible results without them. I found in certain situations it was better to not use them, but in others I found it was better to use them after all (i.e. if I didn't want to be blasting a nearby animal), and it just depended on the situation and what I was going for. If I was trying to acheive a flow that makes it to the other side of the tank, no diffuser, but for a more localized effect I might consider using one.

I find the suction cups to be a PITA too.

Kari, Would you be able to take I pic of your hangers?


J

:lol: !

There isn't much to take a pic off. Its a U-shaped piece of acylic with tapped holes to fit a MJ mounting bracket. My tank doesn't have plastic trim, just glass corner bracing. I made a few for recipma today to fit a tank with trim. Maybe he can take a pic since my camera isn't so great.

Just use the supplied mounting bracket, a piece of acrylic and some Home Depot nylon bolts. Plus a little measuring to fit your particular space. To make it adjustable, cut slots in the acrylic for bolts ( instead of tapping holes ) and use nuts instead of threading in the bolts.

Sorry peoples. I guess its simple when viewing it in my head :confused: . Photo to follow tomorrow....

Well Kari graciously manufactured a couple of the brackets for me. He is right the design is deceptively simple, but the final products works extremely well. My 50 gallon tank has a 1.5 inch lip, so we had to design a small standoff to compensate for that. I will publish a couple of pictures of the finished unit. And as a side note to Kari, they fit absolutely perfectly, and are in use at this very moment. Thanks again. :biggrin: :biggrin:
http://members.shaw.ca/rcipema/bracket1.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/rcipema/bracket2.jpg

That's a wicked design. Nice job kari. Definatly what I'm going to use on my future tank... if I use powerheads.

Clean glass
Small dab of silicon in the middle of each suction cup
Stick powerhead on

Can't apply silicon underwater, can't remove them once they're on. :confused:

However, the point is if it works for him it is good advice. We should avoid pooh poohing other people's ideas. :rolleyes:

Tried a skimmer yet Bob ??............... :mrgreen: :razz:

Nope don't need one, but those who feel they need one are more than welcome to do so. I would never discourage them. :rolleyes: :biggrin:

Well if someone wants to put uncured silicon in their tank, they should feel free to do so.