The Puffer Forum

I have just relandscaped my yard and i have this fr600 pond pump i beleive it is 600 gal/hr flow rate. Will this work as a power head with sponge filter in my 40 gallon brackish tank? I can adjust the flow rate with a lever but i dont know if it would work with the salt?

I would be concerned about the power consumption as opposed to the salt. Pond pumps are made to take a beating in very unfavorable conditions

I have had it running outside for about 2 years. Would it use more power inside?

oh no ... but adjusting the flow rate does not mean the motor is working less. It's a little bit of over kill

Yah I understand it doesnt effect the power consumption. See my long term goal is to either use the 40 gallon as a sump or get a 30 gallon sump for the 40 galon. I wanted to know if i could use it in this tank (getting the bacteria stable in the sponge for bio-filtration) as a powerhead untill I put it in a sump.

that sponge with a 15x per hour is mechanical only you'll be rinsing it out ever couple days. Not a viable bio filter.

Also the flow rate ... You're talking a very large diffuser or you'll be spraying water on the ceiling and turning up everything in the tank.

IMO a pond pump for a 40 gal will not work. I have one on my tank and trust me .. that sponge cover clogs fast

Thnx for the opinion. I just dont want to get rid of this thing and maybe i can use it in the future for a larger tank. But what about the sump application. What i was thinking about was useing a peice of pvc with cuts in it maybe 1/4 wide and 3 to 4 inches long along the length of the pvc? That would add current aswell.

That is how I have my sump set up. I have a half inch pipe that is 17" long with an end cap and 8 1/4 holes in it going from the back to the front of the tank under the lip for my return. The pump is a pump from a pond and with the tube set up like this it seems to disperse the water well. Makes some current but, not too much. With the pipe being up under the lip it makes it so that it is barely noticeable too.

I am hopeing i can put some use to this pump i dont want to get rid of it and it seems like it could be usefull. I just want to know if i can use it in saltwater, or would the saltwater cause carosion and make a electrical safety hazard.

Hi there,

A possible problem aside from power consumption (my main fw 350g pacu stock tank pump is a 600 gph pond pump and it uses only 40W) might be corrosion on the impeller spindle - the thing the rotating impeller magnet sits on - in salty water, if the spindle is made of metal.

It may not be, many are ceramic. Having said this, I use powerheads that one shop owner has said are not marine 'rated' on marine tanks with no problems so far. He probably just wanted me to buy another but I can see what he meant - they have a steel spindle...

Even stainless steel will corrode in sw or bw eventually. Your pond pump may well have a ceramic spindle in any case - you'd notice when you clean it. The rest of the electromagnet will be encased in polymer resin. That's all there is between the power and the water and potentially, you

I'd say go for it if the pump is in in good condition, especially with a sump. Lots of people have algae refugiums on full marine and the pump is put in it's own chamber at one end as a return pump. Use an RCD trip just to be sure. No hands in the water with the power on

Water and electricity - this hobby must be more hazardous than many 'extreme' sports!