Hardware Of The Month - Powerheads

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seffieuk

I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!
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Hardware of the Month

Powerheads


So lets take a look at Powerheads, from the good looking to the downright ugly, but are they any good, are they noisy, how much do they cost, what flow?

Give us the lowdown





Just for you Luke x
 
Hydor Koralia 1 - £30 online

I have had this pump for about 10 months now, and it is still going strong! its very quiet, and i cannot hear it whilst it is working.
it isnt the prettiest powerhead I'll give you that, but it is certainly money well spent! It kicks out 1500 LPH but the flow is not directed into one place, it is distributed evenly in the tank, so is good for corals that like lots of gentle flow. The Flow guard is a waste of time in my opinion, i see no need for it at all! it just restricts flow, and no fish will get sucked in.

Maintenance is easy, just soak the pump in vinegar every 3 months to remove any encrusting algae, when starting up it may be a little noisy because there will be air trapped, just shake it under water whilst its running.

The initial start up can be very noisy indeed and can be felt all around the house! it soon dampens down with a few hours of running in, as with any product.

Over all i would recommend this pump for saltwater and freshwater tanks alike.

cheers, truck
 
Name: Seio M620
Photo:
Picture092.jpg

Price range: About £30
Flow: 620gph / 2400lph
Size/Dimensions: 5.5" H x 2.16" W x 2.6" D but variable as you can change its shape
Suitable for tanks of (min/max litres): I run 2 on 180L with 2 below interpets
Set-up pros and cons: Suction cups and brackets are annoying but are holding ok
Running pros and cons: The pumps are pretty big and there is no magnetic bracket.
Conclusion: They aren't the best but they are cheap and do the job.
Satisfaction with product 1 to 10 - 7

Name: Interpet PHD3
Photo:
LJ0320.jpg

Price range: About £25
Flow: 830lph
Size/Dimensions: Bit smaller than the seios
Suitable for tanks of (min/max litres): I run 2 on 180L with 2 above seios
Set-up pros and cons: Bracket is oretty hard to attach to pump but the section cups are very good
Running pros and cons: The pumps are pretty big and there is no magnetic bracket.
Conclusion: They aren't the best and they are expensive for the flow you get. However I got mine in a 2nd hand tank deal so therefore they were free. I use mine to flow at the surface of my tank and they are very good for that job.
Satisfaction with product 1 to 10 - 7 - do their job well.

Btw thanks for doing powerheads seffie :).

Anyway I was wondering if anyone has polarios or tunzes because I might get them one day.
 
Ben, would you be kind enough to add your Polario review please :good:

But, Luke, both Ben and I have owned a Polario 22000 and both of us have sold them!!

Seffie x
 
I have been keeping aquariums for many years now but just recently I decided to give marines a go. I set about collecting all the apparatus required to maintain a successful tank. My first venture into the salty side comprised of a 3 foot aquarium, which was set up on the cheap! I already had a few power heads, these were then swapped for koralias. My original powerheads were hot, inefficient, unreliable and just plain ugly! Like many other marine aquarists I have now upgraded the tank for which a lot more flow was required. After much deliberation I decided that the Wave Polario 22000 L/H model would suit my needs as it is only £20 more than the smaller 15,000L/H model.
Turnover:
I like Small Polyped Stony (SPS) corals and want my tank to eventually be dominated by these. A guideline of 30-40X turnover in flow is often thrown around when considering these corals, with more being better. On full tilt this pump gives my tank 77X. which when you do the math is overkill. The pump itself is adjustable from 5,500L/H – 22,000 L/H.
My initial first impressions:
Wow this thing is big. Whilst unpacking the pump I made a bit of a blunder, I allowed the two sides of the magnet holder to touch. Not good, if you every purchase one of these pumps be careful not to do the same. It took two people and a screwdriver to prize it apart again. Also be very careful not to let the magnets snap back together again as it can cause quite a nasty injury.
Cables:
When I eventually got round to setting the pump up I discovered that there are three lengths of cable in all. Now there's one thing that really annoys me about this pump, the length of electrical cable, they are very short and there's barely enough to reach the plug sockets! Once the controller and transformer were all plugged in the total length of the wire is just over a metre. As the top of my tank stands at nearly five feet, this caused me a few problems - I do feel they could have given the pump longer cables.
Controller:
The pump controller does look a bit cheap and tacky too me. It has a flow dial which gives no indication on how much flow you are getting. A feeding Mode button is included on the controller pad which can be set to either 8 or 16 mins. This in effect kills the flow to give you time to feed your fish and corals.
First impressions of flow:
It doesn’t half shift some water! This one pump has replaced four powerheads and given me double the flow. I sat back and watched the tank for half hour and I couldn’t see a dead spot at all! Detritus was flying around the tank from every rock. Having had the pump operational for a few weeks now, I have noticed a definite increase in growth from the plating Montipora, whose polyps had never been so extended.
Efficiency:
I haven't noticed a marked increase in heat transferral from the unit directly into my aquarium water, the overall temperature of my aquarium has remained pretty stable. Turning the Polario up to its maximum setting uses about 50W of electricity. This is about double the total wattage my four koralias utilised in my previous set up, but I have to say it does shift more than double the water. So it balances itself out.
Downside:
It’s very loud. It whines as the flow switches from side to side. My tank is in a computer room so this makes no difference to me. But if it were in a more inhabited part of the house then no doubt I would have got fed up with it by now.
Overall assessment:
I’m glad I bought the pump. Its performance is miles better than previous pumps.
It was expensive
I'm happy with it and it is now a vital part of my tank
Star Rating: (out of five)
3.5

It loses marks for noisiness, the plasticy feel to the controller and the size, But what it lacks in those departments it more than makes up for in its performance.

luke, vortech all the way if you upgrade ;)
 
Tunze Nanostream 6025
Price range about £40-£50
Flow 2500lph
Set-up pro's and con's. Big and bulky. They can be set to give flow in most directions and the magnets work well
Running pro's and con's. Hard to open to clean at first, and aren't Anemone safe as the manufacturer claims... Quiet and reliable though
Conclusion A good pump for tanks without corals
Satisfaction 9 out of 10

Maxiject MP1200/MP600
Price range About £40
Flow 1100/680lph
Set-up pro's and con's you can fit guards to prevent Anemones climbing in easily, they are durable and aren't too large. Suction clips aren't great though... They are linear and focused with their flow though
Running pro's and con's Easy to use and set-up. They take one heck of a lot of abuse without failing, aren't too noisy and are very reliable. There is a list of about 12 things you shouldn't do to them. At work I do each item to a lot of these each day, and they never break. My ones at home get pampered however...
Conclusion A good pump that will do the job
Satisfaction 9 out of 10
 
I used 2 modded maxijet 900s on a 90 gallon tank.

I get great flow from them, but the guards that came with mine would definitely fillet an anemone.

I use them with a red sea pro wavemaker even though you're not supposed to and they haven't failed me yet. I love them for the price.

I paid $22 each and $9 for the mods.
 
Vortech sounds great will take a bit of saving for. However it would be usable on a much larger tank. I was intially worried about too much flow but as I have a similar sized tank and you can turn it down right I should be ok.
 
Vortech MP40w

Price: circa £285 (though some forum groups are doing bulk buys with LFS where you can get them cheaper)
Flow: 500-3000 gallons per hour
Power Consumption: 9-28 watts
Appropriate Tank Size Range: 20-500+ gallons
Dimensions: Wet Side- 3” diameter by 2.25” long, Dry Side- 3” diameter by 2.25” long
Clearance Needed Behind Aquarium: 3”

Excellent powerhead for the larger tank where a more minimalist equipment approach is required. Much of the powerhead is situated on the outside of the tank meaning less bulky equipment inside.

The MP40 is very powerful and could easily be the only powerhead in a 4x2x2. i run mine in a 3x2x2 but on less than half power. This not only reduces power consumption and wear and tear on the pump but also noise. Many people have problems with how noisy their powerheads are but having heard many types i beleive the vortech (when set up and aligned correctly) to be one of the quietest.

There are also a 20 size and a 10 size model which could be used for smaller tanks.

The vortech pumps can operate on a number of different modes:
Constant Speed Mode
Lagoon Random Mode
Reef-Crest Random Mode
Short Pulse Mode
Long Pulse Mode
Feed Mode
Night Mode

Multiple vortech pumps can also be linked wirelessly together with one acting as a master and the others as slaves to produce a life-like wave action.

In summary, if its the best you want, or the most adaptable (and you can cope with the price) then you have to go for a vortech powerhead!

Rob
 
Hydor Koralia Nano, 1 and 4

Variable prices and flow rates.

I have used all of these pumps in various setups. As noted above when new they can take awhile to "break in" and all the ones I bought from new took about a week before they went quite. Once they did though they where completely silent.

On my 100g tank I currently use X3 koralia 4's. These do a great job in this tank (vision 450, 5ft bowfront tank). I have recently put a spare koralia 1 in again though to get more water movement down the back of the rocks. This is due to my poor rock placement though and if I had a more open scape 3 koralia 4's would be more than enough flow.

I do use the flow guards but this is only because I have corals not far from the output of the powerheads and without the flow guards they have too much flow over them. Also I have seen snails, hermit crabs and shrimp all setting on the front of the flow guard in direct flow so I would be worried about these getting caught up in the powerhead if it wasnt there.
 
Tunze are the best powerheads would never go back to vortech

vortech powerheads are powerfull but only push the water A to B

but the tunze 6105 model is good because say if i placed a gonipora coral at the bottom of the tank the vortech would rip it apart but the tunze can change a slight angel and would be ok but vortech if you moved it and that coral liked that amount of flow you dont want to up set the rest of the corals if you get what i mean so the tunce is better that way and my lfs agress the same
 
SunSun JVP-101

Price : £10 ish from china, or £13-£16 from the UK (prices inc postage)

Water output : 3000 LPH

Size : 9.5cm x 7.5cm x 8cm

Noise level : Completely silent


General thoughts. At first glance it doesn't seem to have my flow, but I think thats down to the large opening where the water comes out. Because its spred over a larger area, and not forced out of a small outlet, it seems slower, but it really does move the water. If you follow a peice of food or watch the fish you can see how much flow it puts out.

Its an attractive, chic design. Modern and slick looking. Comes with 3 suction cups (magnet version avaliable). On the mount it also has a ball joint type thing, so you can position the flow how you like. This also means, you don't have to take the suction cups off to redirect the flow of water.

I got the one with the 2 pin plug and they inc a free converter which is really handy. You can also get it with a 3 pin plug I think.

The box
P1290071.jpg


What do you get? (pen for size comp)
P1290072.jpg


Water movement when not even directed at the surface
P1290073.jpg


If you are looking for a cheap powerhead that is going to move the water, I would recommend this. Great for smaller tanks where some extra flow is needed alongside other brands.
 
I have spoken to a lot of people using the sunsun pumps and they have all tended to agree that they are pretty good for the price range.
 

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