I've been meaning to do this for months (over a year now...), but finally just gave up the evening to it. The biggest thing that has bugged me about a $450 powerhead is the stupid holder that they made to attach it to the magnet - it simply can't hold the powerhead very well when on 100%, and isn't very adjustable. I like my powerheads to be on my back glass (pointing to the tank center) so they're hidden, but the tunze magnet adapters just won't let this happen.
So I came up with something that was reversible, all plastic, and much more adjustable. Ended up even looking "cleaner" than a normal install.
First, I removed the back of the Tunze 6200.
alt="" />
I had originally planned to drill through the backplate and mount from there, but the top of the case was pretty open, so I just decide to drill and use it.
alt="" />
I had every standard sized tap through 1/2", but didn't have a 3/4" tap. Fortunately, my drilled hole seemed to be by far tight enough to do the job. I added some 3/4" 'bendy pipe' with the threaded end into the tunze.
Put all together, this gave me something like this:
alt="" />
alt="" />
I figured out about halfway through that I could make the cable a little cleaner as well, so cut out a part in the back and ran the cable through the bendy pipe:
alt="" />
Mounting the bendy pipe to something solid ended up being more of a challenge. I didn't want to permanently modify my magnets so they couldn't be used the original way, so ended up cutting some scrap acrylic so that it'd fit onto the magnet. I tapped a couple holes for some nylon screws that I had, and added another hole - this one for the receiving end of the bendy pipe. That resulted in something like this:
alt="" />
Snap it all together (I make it sound so easy- it took a couple hours), and I got this:
alt="" />
alt="" />
And this was the final product:
alt="" />
I had originally planned on re-mounting my magnets on the back glass, so that they're out of the way, but when all this started coming together, I realized I could use the magnets on the bracing around the edges of my tank. So after a couple iterations, I ended up with:
alt="" />
And now the magnets and cord were completely hidden from view - the only thing visible was the one section of bendy pipe, and now I could point the Tunze anywhere I wanted. Here's a shot of it in my tank (lights were out, so only had an external pic:
alt="" />
The best parts of all this is that those ugly magnets are hidden, the cord is hidden, but I still have infinite flexibility in pointing the tunze. And much to my pleasant surprise, the bendy pipe holds it rock solid- it moves far less on even 8" of bendy pipe than it did on the original holder! No glue was used anywhere throughout the project - everything is very tightly screwed in.
Hope this helps someone. I'll take a picture tomorrow of it in my tank, when the lights are on...
So I came up with something that was reversible, all plastic, and much more adjustable. Ended up even looking "cleaner" than a normal install.
First, I removed the back of the Tunze 6200.
I had originally planned to drill through the backplate and mount from there, but the top of the case was pretty open, so I just decide to drill and use it.
I had every standard sized tap through 1/2", but didn't have a 3/4" tap. Fortunately, my drilled hole seemed to be by far tight enough to do the job. I added some 3/4" 'bendy pipe' with the threaded end into the tunze.
Put all together, this gave me something like this:
I figured out about halfway through that I could make the cable a little cleaner as well, so cut out a part in the back and ran the cable through the bendy pipe:
Mounting the bendy pipe to something solid ended up being more of a challenge. I didn't want to permanently modify my magnets so they couldn't be used the original way, so ended up cutting some scrap acrylic so that it'd fit onto the magnet. I tapped a couple holes for some nylon screws that I had, and added another hole - this one for the receiving end of the bendy pipe. That resulted in something like this:
Snap it all together (I make it sound so easy- it took a couple hours), and I got this:
And this was the final product:
I had originally planned on re-mounting my magnets on the back glass, so that they're out of the way, but when all this started coming together, I realized I could use the magnets on the bracing around the edges of my tank. So after a couple iterations, I ended up with:
And now the magnets and cord were completely hidden from view - the only thing visible was the one section of bendy pipe, and now I could point the Tunze anywhere I wanted. Here's a shot of it in my tank (lights were out, so only had an external pic:
The best parts of all this is that those ugly magnets are hidden, the cord is hidden, but I still have infinite flexibility in pointing the tunze. And much to my pleasant surprise, the bendy pipe holds it rock solid- it moves far less on even 8" of bendy pipe than it did on the original holder! No glue was used anywhere throughout the project - everything is very tightly screwed in.
Hope this helps someone. I'll take a picture tomorrow of it in my tank, when the lights are on...
