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.