Equipment reliability

[vetteguy53081]

There has always been controversy as to what is the best equipment and worse equipment based on user experience and favorites. There has been an array of failed equipment such as return pumps, heaters, lights, tanks and others. This is not intended to be a bashing session but rather to share with others what equipment may be a best bet and of risk.

What has been the best equipment you have owned and found reliable?
What has been the worse equipment investment you have made and why?

Finnex heaters have been my best and reliable heater and Danner supreme and Sicce pumps have been my best. The Danner I had ran 9 years and sold with a system and ran another 4 years that I knew of. Finnex has never let me down.

Worse light has been marineland LED strip and current lighting. Tunze 9000 series , . . . . worse skimmer ive owned.
Im on the verge of adding Neptune EB832 as my second one has blown and I just found out the outlets are not true oulets but resistors. $289 for 9 resistors? A timed power strip with ten outlets is $49 !!

 

[Lps_lover12]

I just bought a set of Finnex heaters so glad that they work well, excited to use them! My best equipment that I have bought would probably have to be my hydra 52s and my bubble magus skimmer, neither one has ever had an issue and both work really well. My worst investment, which will shock some people, was the Tunze nano ato. I just found everything about it from the sensor to how loud the pump is. Maybe I had a faulty one because everyone says how they love it, but I used it for a week then sold it because it didn’t work properly

 

[PhishMonger84]

Most of my experience is freshwater but I utilize a lot of the same equipment in those tanks.

Koralia & jaebo wave makers have been most reliable for me.
I do own both an Mp40 and mp10 and they have been let downs to say the least. I may use the 40 again in the near future but I will likely buy another jaebo pump or a Nero.

100% agree on the return pumps, had an eco tech that was a constant headache.

Ten years ago I would have said eheim for heaters but I also buy the finnex titanium and use with a controller.

I like my AI lights, would have done kessils if I was making that choice today though.

I don’t understand how my nyos skimmer works but my aquamaxx is great

 

[Acros]

Only equipment that has totally failed on me is a Sicce 0.5 return pump. I still use 2 of them as my return.

My icecap ATO will need replaced at some point. It likes to over fill once a year or so. For the moment, Neptune is programmed for the ATO to come on for only 1 minute every hour.

Ecotech Radions had its own fair share of issues. However the customer service more than makes up for it. I haven’t had any issues with Mobius lately.

Kamoer X1 dosing pumps work really well. They had some surprise network issues recently.

Eheim Jager heaters combined with a Neptune apex temp probe has worked really well.

I am happy with all my Neptune equipment, except for the useless salinity probe.

Finally, shout out to Jebao powerheads. The single most reliable equipment on my tank. lol

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Good cheap wave maker Domica Amazon special 18.00 for 2. I have 9 or 10 on both salt water and fresh. Some 2 years running.

 

[doubleshot00]

Ive only been in this game for a short while but impressed by some cheap products. Jebao for example is very reliable. AI Neros are awesome for what they are and the AI lights are great when you can get them used for a good price. Light bars from Quanta are great to. The amount of par one bar gives out is amazing.

Neptune's products are the great for automation but the quality of the product is lack luster. Like how why are the eb832 designed the way they are? Why is the LLS so difficult to get a "somewhat" accurate reading. Why is the DOS so LOUD? Why is the wifi SO TERRIBLE!!!! But were stuck with it. Its really sad.

I actually liked the Comline 9012 dc version. Awesome skimmer.

 

[mfinn]

Reliable equipment has always been a must for me.
Heaters has been the hard one to find.
Ebo Jagers used to be the best IMO, but now for me Finnex seems to hold up over time.
I went from VHO, then to MH, and then to Radions, and CoralCare gen 2 fixtures. Never had any complaints there.
I've always had good return pumps from dependable ac pumps danner, eheim, little giant, etc. Then to pretty good dc pumps like Vectra and Red Dragon.
Wave makers like Tunze were my go to powerheads. Then the MP40's came out and have always had great luck with them. I tried about a dozen jeboas and most fail within a year.

 

[jkcoral]

Years ago I used to run all of the Ecotech kit. Lights, MP40s, mp60s, and all that. The lights were always okay, but still overpriced in my opinion. The MP40s and MP60s were always underwhelming, especially when taking the sizable costs of them.

The two best pieces of equipment in terms of “value” for the money have been the Inkbird temp controller and some WiFi power strips. Inkbird has been a solid performer and provides a little piece of mind for around $20. What I really love are the two Kasa WiFi power strips I got about 4 months ago. They have a ton of functionality and give you a lot of control without spending considerably more on other commonly known aquarium controllers.

 

[pringie2022]

Regardless of the brand, its kind of a crap shoot and just comes down to luck. I've had expensive equipment junk out on me. My luck is doing the preventative maintenance caused more headaches and problems. I have personally not had much luck with Coralvue products. Like the gyres...etc. I personally will never buy any product under that umbrella again. What helps me make my decision is the quality of the tech support when the items do breakdown. Is the process seamless and hassle free? That speaks volumes to me. If I am having an emergency i want to be able to call the tech support and get help right away. Not place a ticket and wait a minimum of 24 hours for them to reply

 

[MichaelReefer]

Tunzee ATO- Replaced the pump after 4 years but its still rocking. Was full of German Shepherd Hair.

AI and Kessil are both great lights.

 

[fodsod]

Tunze ATO has been great. Destroyed a pump using Kalw. in the ATO but the replacement was like $35 so no big deal.

Kamoer X1 pro dosing pumps have been solid. They did have some technical issues on their end about a month or two ago. The pumps still worked fine and they fixed everything now.

Reef octopus skimmer has been a work horse. I've got 2 and 1 of them has been in service almost 10 years now.

Siccee silent (not that silent) return pump has been solid also

Reefbreeders Photon 48-v2 pro has been amazing so far. My only issue is that it won't run without an internet connection. If your power goes out and you don't have your wifi tied to your generator or UPS you're not going to have lights.

Eheim heaters have been great. I've got 3 running at all times and haven't had on fail yet for years. I will evetually replace them with Finnex down the road.

Inkbird heater controllers have also been good to go. The app sucks and the notifications are a joke. The actual units work great though.

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

Japanese-made Iwaki Pumps have lasted me decades with basically no cleaning. They are by far the most reliable return pump I have ever used. I will also shout out my Kessil A360 non WE that was purchased in 2012 and is still running and basically anything Tunze. Tunze is one of the only brands that has offered me replacement parts for skimmers that were discontinued over 10 years ago. My Tunze Wave box has been going for close to 10 years now along with My Osmolator.

For DC pumps my go-to is the Octopus VarioS. I have one that is over 5 years old with no replacement parts. I took years to adopt DC pumps because of reliability concerns but the VarioS have been bulletproof for me. We often don't remember how many early vectras, Wavelines, and Jebaos went bad within 1-2 years. The DC pumps have come a long way but the VarioS was the first one to come out that I really trusted in.

 

[Snoopy 67]

I've had my Aquacontroller II for over 20 years with only 1 glitch that never came back.
Temp probe is the only thing replaced on it. EB-8's have had problems though.
Pumps- heating up the water is my biggest complaint, hard to find a pump that doesn't.
My Red Dragon was a good one but did not last either. Tunze products have been great to me along with Finnex. Reefbreeder's lights have been pretty solid on both tanks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Regardless of the brand, its kind of a crap shoot and just comes down to luck. I've had expensive equipment junk out on me. My luck is doing the preventative maintenance caused more headaches and problems. I have personally not had much luck with Coralvue products. Like the gyres...etc. I personally will never buy any product under that umbrella again. What helps me make my decision is the quality of the tech support when the items do breakdown. Is the process seamless and hassle free? That speaks volumes to me. If I am having an emergency i want to be able to call the tech support and get help right away. Not place a ticket and wait a minimum of 24 hours for them to reply

well said and while i have coral vue product, they have been less than supportive with product issues and I like will Not buy from them again

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

well said and while i have coral vue product, they have been less than supportive with product issues and I like will Not buy from them again

As a seller and a hobbyist, I have learned there are two kinds of product support.

• (Amazon-like Product Support)
  • If you don't like it no problem here is a refund or replacement that will ship today.
• Traditional product support
  • We believe in our product and we doubt there is anything wrong with it. Here is a bunch of troubleshooting steps

Both can be frustrating. I think Amazon has gotten people used to just exchanging and returning anything that they want however this often gets me frustrated with high-end products. I recently replaced my car stereo with a touchscreen stereo I got on Amazon and the Default Password did not match what the instructions said. I had no way to talk to anyone at the stereo company. I got a chatbot who had no idea what I was talking about and eventually, they just said I should return it and get a replacement through Amazon, but It was fine I just wanted to know the password and I am sure the replacement would be the same so I had to search forums to find a list of possible default passwords and enter them one after another for 30 minutes strait until I found the right one. Imagine buying any WiFi or Bluetooth aquarium device and running into a similar problem.

I have also had times where I knew what was wrong with a product but convincing the manufacturer to warranty it took days of back and forth.

I have started to really appreciate companies that are very reluctant to just replace a product because I have seen many cases where it is simply that they have lots of confidence in their product. An example is UV lamps. The most popular UV manufacturers test every single lamp before it leaves the factory. Firstly this means we get many calls from people saying the lamp is used, this is because it was tested from the factory for 5 minutes so it has some black near the end. We also get many people saying the lamp does not work, but every single lamp was tested before leaving the factory so they are pretty much never bad. It is almost always not working because the ballast has died but customers often get really mad when we ask them to buy a new ballast that costs 3 times as much as the lamp.

I have personally been happy with CoralVue product support but I have been asked to buy new Network equipment because the problem is not their product and the exchange has taken over a week of back and forth. I have just decided I am OK with that after having been on the other end of things. If they believe their product works and are willing to work with me to get it working then I am happy.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

As a seller and a hobbyist, I have learned there are two kinds of product support.

• (Amazon-like Product Support)
  • If you don't like it no problem here is a refund or replacement that will ship today.
• Traditional product support
  • We believe in our product and we doubt there is anything wrong with it. Here is a bunch of troubleshooting steps

Both can be frustrating. I think Amazon has gotten people used to just exchanging and returning anything that they want however this often gets me frustrated with high-end products. I recently replaced my car stereo with a touchscreen stereo I got on Amazon and the Default Password did not match what the instructions said. I had no way to talk to anyone at the stereo company. I got a chatbot who had no idea what I was talking about and eventually, they just said I should return it and get a replacement through Amazon, but It was fine I just wanted to know the password and I am sure the replacement would be the same so I had to search forums to find a list of possible default passwords and enter them one after another for 30 minutes strait until I found the right one. Imagine buying any WiFi or Bluetooth aquarium device and running into a similar problem.

I have also had times where I knew what was wrong with a product but convincing the manufacturer to warranty it took days of back and forth.

I have started to really appreciate companies that are very reluctant to just replace a product because I have seen many cases where it is simply that they have lots of confidence in their product. An example is UV lamps. The most popular UV manufacturers test every single lamp before it leaves the factory. Firstly this means we get many calls from people saying the lamp is used, this is because it was tested from the factory for 5 minutes so it has some black near the end. We also get many people saying the lamp does not work, but every single lamp was tested before leaving the factory so they are pretty much never bad. It is almost always not working because the ballast has died but customers often get really mad when we ask them to buy a new ballast that costs 3 times as much as the lamp.

I have personally been happy with CoralVue product support but I have been asked to buy new Network equipment because the problem is not their product and the exchange has taken over a week of back and forth. I have just decided I am OK with that after having been on the other end of things. If they believe their product works and are willing to work with me to get it working then I am happy.

I know it’s not directly related to the original post but I have seen the Amazonation psyche all over as of late in the forums. Now I’m not bashing the younger folks so I hope no offense is taken but I had to step back and put myself in their shoes. Imagine your only or the bulk of your interactions with faulty products, customer service, and returns was on Amazon. That is your embedded baseline and expectation of how things work everywhere. The general expectation of receiving an order within two days max and being able to send it back for a refund without question is pretty much all some people know. It used to frustrate me until I took a step back and realized I wasn’t brought up with Amazon. How can I judge someone’s unrealistic expectations if they’re really not unrealistic to them?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

There has always been controversy as to what is the best equipment and worse equipment based on user experience and favorites. There has been an array of failed equipment such as return pumps, heaters, lights, tanks and others. This is not intended to be a bashing session but rather to share with others what equipment may be a best bet and of risk.

What has been the best equipment you have owned and found reliable?
What has been the worse equipment investment you have made and why?

Finnex heaters have been my best and reliable heater and Danner supreme and Sicce pumps have been my best. The Danner I had ran 9 years and sold with a system and ran another 4 years that I knew of. Finnex has never let me down.

Worse light has been marineland LED strip and current lighting. Tunze 9000 series , . . . . worse skimmer ive owned.
Im on the verge of adding Neptune EB832 as my second one has blown and I just found out the outlets are not true oulets but resistors. $289 for 9 resistors> A timed power strip with ten outlets is $49 !!

Also, does price or brand equate to reliability or performance? Is every single product under brand x a winner and worth the brand loyalty pledge? Aside from intellectual property theft, pride in buying from manufactures in your country, can cheap be reliable?

 

[MnFish1]

What has been the best equipment you have owned and found reliable?

API test kits LOL. I vote for Finnex heaters

What has been the worse equipment investment you have made and why?

A well known controller has been unreliable - the modules were expensive - and did not meld well with third party equipment (with which they were supposed to be functional). Resulting in perhaps 10-15K of damage over the years.

 

[MnFish1]

Also, does price or brand equate to reliability or performance? Is every single product under brand x a winner and worth the brand loyalty pledge? Aside from intellectual property theft, pride in buying from manufactures in your country, can cheap be reliable?

IMHO - cheap can be reliable - cheap can be horrible. In general - the old saying 'You get what you pay for' is true. (Except with the multiple supplements, etc - that people seem to be wanting to pay for lately)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also, does price or brand equate to reliability or performance? Is every single product under brand x a winner and worth the brand loyalty pledge? Aside from intellectual property theft, pride in buying from manufactures in your country, can cheap be reliable?

I dont believe price supports quality or reliability as i have components i bought cheap until they died and still working.
Price is set forth by manufacturer and does not indicate its worth the money in some cases