What are some good power head options?

The one that went was a hydor koralia.

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Ahh WTF!!? :neutral: What kind of powerhead was it?

Hydor koralia power head. It had been giving me trouble the last little while, making weird noises and stuff. But I cleaned it and all had been good the last 2 weeks.

Now the apartment and the tank has a nice almost cigarette smell to it...

Wife is ****ed the $60 fish she bought yesterday is dead.

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Brutal! Sorry to hear. I would probably do some large WC to make sure if any chemicals are in the water.

Jeez. So sorry to hear.... I have a wonky Jebao powerhead in my tank still and now I'm thinking I should fast-track getting a replacement.


Hey, if you're interested, you're welcome to some of my chaeto. Mine has grown to a basketball size and has a healthy copepod population. Also some mushrooms/live rock rubble.

Ya it sucks. I think I have to completely restart. So I will take you up on the chaeto offer at a later time.

I would for sure replace it. I should have replaced mine when it started acting up...

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So I took apart the power head and this is what I found.

Looks like it melted. There was a bunch of black plastic pieces all over the tank.

My worry now is, do I have to replace the sand?

Is there chemicals in my tank that I won't be able to remove with water changes?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2531447a9c.jpg

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Did a 100% water change and added a bunch of activated carbon. Still smells like chemicals though.

Not sure if I will have the budget if I have to buy new sand and new live rock.

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Wow I've never seen a single powerhead take out a tank like that! Yikes! Sorry to hear. Hopefully some things will pull through.

All the snails, pods and the kole Tang I picked up yesterday died.

The frogspawn and hammer coral look ok, but not super happy in my low flow weak light 10 gallon. The acropora I have have all lost their colour. Not sure if it will come back or not.

Going to try and find someone who can take my coral for a bit. I am pretty sure the tank will have to recycle and I don't think they will survive my 10 gallon.

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I don’t think you would have to change the sand bed. The big WC and GAC should help out. You may just be smelling residual burnt plastic as that’s nasty stuff when it melts.

I hope you're right and I don't have to replace anything.

So far looks like some corals will be ok. But the acropora and orange eye chalice aren't looking good at all.

Unfortunately your Acro probably won’t survive the water parameter swings. If your lucky you may get STN and not RTN. I’m hoping they are dealing with stress and swing back.

Bit of an update.


I have for sure lost my largest acro frag. It has gone bone white. The other acro frags aren't looking great, but 2 still have a bit of colour. Although, the one that had coloured up and was doing the best has lost all its polyps. Just empty holes, but still has a bit of colour.


The frogspawn and hammer coral aren't looking great either. The frogspawn hasn't opened yet while the hammer coral is barely opening.


The orange eye chalice is still green, but there are no longer any orange eyes..


The acan looks surprisingly unaffected. So hoping it will survive.


The apartment no longer smells, but when I open the lid to the tank I can still smell the melting plastic smell.



Still unsure if I will have to go through the cycle again. I will test the water on wednesday.


Trying to look on the bright side, at least this happened now and not when my tank was fully stocked. And I no longer have any cyno....


Anyone have good recommendations on a new power head?

Well hopefully you are able to keep a couple corals alive after this disaster. You may have a cycle or you may have a small ammonia spike. It’s hard to tell until you start testing your parameters.

As far as some decent powerheads I have used the gyres and the Rossmont movers and really liked both. The movers are priced well for what to get and were very reliable.

The hammer and frogspawn are looking a bit better, but still not great. No change to the chalice and acan.


The acros are slowly getting worse :( I don't think I will be able to save them.


The tank is having a massive diatom bloom. Really bad on the side where the powerhead died.



For the gyres powerheads which brand would you recommend? Seems like there are a few brands for them at varying prices.


Also picking up a skimmer today. So that should help with any future algae problems.

You could try fragging the Acro above the recession. I have owned both maxspect and glamorca for gyres. The glamorca is great for the price but depending on your flow requirements you may need the larger maxspect. The glamorca comes in a regular or a Nano.

I will give fragging the acro a try although it's a pretty small frag to begin with.

I think I could get away with the glamorca gyre. It's flow rate is higher than the hydor koralia I had. I'm going to look into them more.

Tested my water
Ammonia - 0.50
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

Looks like I'm going to have to cycle again. :(



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I think it’s worth a try with be Acro. The gyre should give you a nice flow!
Hopefully it’s just a mini cycle and not a fill one.

I fragged the one acro last night. Will have to see how it's doing when I get home today.


I'm hoping it will just be a mini cycle, but I have a really bad feeling it will be a complete cycle. Anything I can do to speed it up a bit? Find a small piece of live rock from another member that is pest free?


I picked up a protein skimmer last night from another member. Should I set that up now or wait until the cycle has finished again?


I have been looking at the glamorca gyres. The reviews on them don't seem that great. I'm a little hesitant to spend $200 on another power head that might break soon. On the other hand, I don't have the budget right now for $300+ on a power head.

Update:


There is life!!!! I have one cerith snail that survived! I'm not sure how, but it did and is traveling all over the tank and glass! I never knew snails could be so hardy!


Corals aren't doing as well. All acroporas except 1 looking like empty whit skeletons. The other corals are still alive, but not thriving.


Still waiting for the ammonia to come down before I add the corals back to the tank.

Blah. Hopefully by much longer and everything works it’s way back to normal. All you can do is move forward now.

So ammonia has gone away. Seems like the cycle is nearing completion.

I found a second snail that survived! I know have one cerith and one trochus snail that survived!

I did another big water change today and moved all the coral back to the 75 gallon. It looks like I have 2 acropora that still have a bit of colour on them. Hoping they can pull through. Is there any chance that the ones that have bleached out will come back or are they dead?

Anything I can do to increase the chances of survival for the 2 remaining that aren't completely white?

I still need to get a replacement power head. I just had to buy new tires for my truck which ate up a big chunk of my fun money. So looks like I will go with another hydor koralia for now until I can save up for something better.

Took a few pics of the acros.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e6441918ee.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1c67f84c7e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...56137a6e20.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cb331d986a.jpg

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If the stony coral is completely bleached (flesh is gone) then that frag is toast. The only way I have been successful with STN/RTN is to frag the healthy fleshy parts.

Yay to no ammonia! Maybe it’s time to put in a little canary fish? My little Springer’s damsel is a great little guy.

Let me know when you’re ready for some chaeto or some starter frags to test things out.

Ok. The flesh is gone so they won't be coming back then. The other 2 still have some flesh on them. Doesn't look like enough to frag though.I think I will hold off on fish for a little while longer.

What sort of starter frags do you have?

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I’ve got a few things that are pretty bullet-proof: Forest Fire digi, GSP, Armour of God zoas. You’re welcome to try them out in your tank. If they don’t grow in there, nothing will:lol:

If it’s too small to frag just leave it and it will be a toss up to see if the frags peel completely or stop. If they stop over time they may heal up slowly.

I will take you up on the forest fire and zoas in a couple weeks. Need to get a new powerhead first.

Ok. I will keep an eye on them. Hopefully they pull through. One has a couple spots that are bleached and the other is one side.

I had 2 coral colonies (garf bonsai, pink birdsnest) that I thought I had killed (bleached) a year ago because of a phosphate/nitrate/alkalinity issue. Low and behold, I cut away the skeletons and there was nothing left or at least I thought. About 8 months later the bonsai started growing back (2" long now multiple stems) and I noticed the birdsnest growing back about a month ago. It is a little over an inch long now multiple stems.

You just never know.

I have about another half dozen or so I killed in that same episode that I am still holding my breath for.

I've left them in the tank so we will see if any of them come back.


The pocilapora is now showing some bleaching in spots. I moved it to another spot with higher flow so hopefully it will like that.


I have been having some issues with my frogspawn not opening up. Any idea what that could be?

I have lots of pieces of pocillopora. I will give you another one once your tank has stabilized.

Thanks, but I'm going to save it!.... Hopefully.

I moved it to a spot closer to the one remaining powerhead so it gets more flow. Hopefully that helps it.

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What powerhead are you considering? I have Jebaos right now, but true to their reputation, they’re starting to have issues after 6months. I’m likely going to get Tunzes as they have good reviews but are more affordable

Thinking I might just get another hydor koralia and then save up for something a little more expensive later on.

You know, I thought about that, but I had that power head for 4 years and I got it used from the guy I bought my old freshwater tank off of. So I think I should be ok for a few months while I save up for something better. Maybe I will ask for a fancy power head for my birthday in august.

You don’t necessarily need fancy...I had Rossmont movers and absolutely loved them. Sure they didn’t have fancy wifi or ramp up etc. But they moved water well and were reliable.

I haven't looked into those ones yet. Right now I am looking for something under $150.