Powerhead sucked fish in, how to prevent this?!

Hi,

We just brought a powerhead today, and I think we had the wrong attachment on it for the way we were using it, but it resulted in one of our fish getting sucked into the powerhead and dying

Luckily we only have mollies because we're testing our fish keeping skills before we get proper marine fish. But it was still sad

We had a cone attachment on, and when looking closely at the pics on the box (there is no instructions) it seems that you're supposed to have a tube going all the way to the bottom of the tank, to either take water in or out (we can reverse the flow of this powerhead).

We've now taken the cone attachment off, so there is no space for a fish to get stuck, and there is a grill stopping fish from getting sucked in. But we're still really worried that the suction on the inlet could get our fish caught and hurt them. Do you have any advice on how we can prevent this?

Thanks in advance!

 

Wrap the area of concern with a fine mesh. Plastic mosquito screening would be an option as long as it hasn't been painted over at the factory. A woman's nylon stocking may also do the trick.

Sorry for your loss and best of luck!

 

Sorry for your loss ! You could try some sort of plastic mesh and/or a piece of sponge! Please have a look on the design of internal filters! You could make something like that, just out of sponge/tube + power head! Please check this site. Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for your help! They're great ideas, I'm gonna go shopping for materials first thing tomorrow morning

 

You could try sticking a piece of sponge on the end, because what you want to do is disburse the amount of water and force of it being sucked up into your powerhead! This will avoid fish getting sucked up and killed due to the excessive force of the powerhead!

 

Thats what I used was sponge..... It works great..

 

Thanks for all your ideas.

We tried putting a sponge in the inlet, but the sponge got sucked in a bit, and we were still worried that it would suck a fish in, so then we tried tying pantyhose around the inlet, this seemed to work well.... but we were still worried that a fish could get caught in there, cause the suction was still quite strong, and it caused the powerhead to make an annoying vibrating noise. So then we brought a piece of plastic tubing that would fit around the inlet, and ran it from the inlet to the bottom of the tank, and surrounded the bottom of the tube with largeish rocks, so that no fish could get in the gaps between the rocks, but water could still flow freely throughout. And now we can't hear it, and the fish can't get to it! So we're happy with that solution Thanks for all your help!

 

What brand and type of power head did you buy ?

 

the picture you dicribed on the box is a filtrationmethon called undergravel filtration heres some links to give you a bit more info.
Frequently asked questions on undergravel filtration | Practical Fishkeeping magazine
Under Gravel or Undergravel Filters - The First Tank Guide - Filtering Your Aquarium Water

 

We got an AquaClear 50 powerhead