Fish are hiding from the flow

[Solarfall]

Hi, I bought 2 HK4s for my 55g about 2 weeks ago, and ever since my cinnamon clown and Royal gramma have been hiding in this little rock cove that doesn't get a whole lot of flow.
I figured it was normal when I first installed them, but it's been two weeks and they won't come out. Before that my clown would happily zip around the tank and come to greet me when I turned the lights on. I got the gramma like a week ago and he went right for the clown's secret spot once I turned the pumps back on after acclimation.

 

[dcantucson]

Try positioning the direction of the flow differently until you find a more suitable flow for them.

 

[winyfrog]

There just not sure. Give them some time they should be fine.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 dcan and winy

Mine took a while to adjust to the new powerheads. I did tweak the flow so that it's not shifting my sand bed, or knocking down any rocks. But my fish now love the powerheads. They even play in the stream. Give them time, but tweak the angles to see if that helps.

 

[yote]

+1 all the above

 

[Melosu58]

I agree. Reposition the PH`s.

 

[KidJ57]

+1 to the time givers :lol:

The fish are just testing water (Pun INtended)...all of sudden they went from nice calm water to a jet stream smacking them in the face...they're probably gonna take some time checking it out a little at a time.

 

[Solarfall]

Alright, just making sure I didn't overkill the flow. It is A LOT of flow compared to what I had but I just got worried that I dumped 100 beans into these powerheads that were only hurting the aesthetic of the tank.
The clown does come out when it's feeding time but he's very reluctant even if I turn the K4s off. He'll pop out for a second and grab a peice of food and go right back to his cove.
As for repostioning the K4s, I've done it at least 20 times to see if I get anything out of these fish but between the sandstorms and everything it's much easier said than done to get the perfect position on these things.
They definetly helped wipe out my first diatom bloom though :)

 

[sen5241b]

when in the hell is someone going to invent an adjustable flow pump?

 

[daugherty]

the vortech is adjustable. i dont see a need to have an adjutable pump unless it is being adjusted by a wavemaker

 

[ZOOT098]

IMHO I think 2 K4's is a ton of flow in a 55
thats pushing 2400gph
what if you got one of those $35 power strips with the adjustable "wavemaker"
that way you could have them alternate on and off
I have two K3's hooked to one they alternate, one runs for 2 minutes then turns off and the other one runs for 2 minutes
Natural Wave Multi Cycle Pump Timer | Wavemakers | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

 

[Solarfall]

IMHO I think 2 K4's is a ton of flow in a 55
thats pushing 2400gph
what if you got one of those $35 power strips with the adjustable "wavemaker"
that way you could have them alternate on and off
I have two K3's hooked to one they alternate, one runs for 2 minutes then turns off and the other one runs for 2 minutes
Natural Wave Multi Cycle Pump Timer | Wavemakers | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

I've heard of people having problems with the impellers getting beat up after awhile when turning HKs on and off a lot.

 

[daugherty]

yep they will crack the housing they are not made to be turned on and off all the time

 

[yote]

I've heard that they fixed that problem on a Magnum series.

 

[steelcity]

thinking about putting 2 - K2 in my 55. Would that be appropriate? Running the octopus 800s on the back.

 

[daugherty]

i would prob do at least k3's

 

[project5k]

well, i have a thought on how you can reduce the flow of one of these, but i would need one to test with first...

my concern in trying to reduce the flow is going to be the motor wanting to draw more current due to the reduced rpm's of the motor, and thus taking it down from its optimal loaded speed(this will cause it to want to overheat). so, if someone wants to ship me one to play with, i'll do my best to figure out how to slow it down.

pm me if your interested.

 

[ZOOT098]

the SEIO controllers will work with the k3's and the k4's
It will ramp them up and down without actually shutting them off

also i agree, i would go with k3's also

 

[Zissou]

thinking about putting 2 - K2 in my 55. Would that be appropriate? Running the octopus 800s on the back.

I have two K2's for my 30 gallon long and it's just enough flow. I think they'd be too little for a 55.

 

[kmart189]

You should see my harlequin tusk when he starts getting cracked out and darting in and out of the modded maxijet 1200's these things push out some water too.