Lets talk power heads, in tank flow

Scott chilton · Apr 19, 2018

ive had the jeboas in the past and loved them. ive had all Rw models and they lasted me years. i stepped it up a bit with my new tank. Got the Icecap 3K Gyre. this thing is awesome! it was a little loud at first but once it broke in and got a nice slime coat on it, i can barely hear it. the programming and scheduling are great. The price is on point too! cant beat it IMO.

User1 · Apr 19, 2018

Two 1" Sea Swirls in my tank via a Cor 15 return pump. Works pretty well and I can't complain. In fact, another fan of no wires

I also have a Gyre XF230 and I'm not sure I like it. I could have it placed too high in the tank but it doesn't seem to be reaching the far end of the tank - 54" wide x 30" tall at 80% using the OGC / Oceanic Gyre Cycle. Could be that you need them working has a pair. Anyway jury is still out on that piece of equipment but the Sea Swirls - love them.

chipmunkofdoom2 · Apr 19, 2018

I bought an MP10 used. Works fine, but I probably won't buy another. Too expensive. Have a Jebao PP-4 in my display and another in my frag tray. Great flow for the price. They're not the most reliable, but an Ecotech Vortech is around 5 times more expensive than a similar flow Jebao. Plus, the Vortechs only come with a one year warranty. While Vortechs usually last more than a year, if anything fails outside that first year, you're on the hook. For the cost of most of the Vortech's replacement parts, you could buy a whole new Jebao pump. With those numbers, I'll take my chances on the Jebao.

Greybeard · Apr 19, 2018

Tank is 60" x 30" x 18" tall, installed peninsula style. I have a pair of Rossmont 1900gph pumps, one on either end, opposing corners, both angled towards the top of the tank. These are AC pumps, connected to my Apex. I run them for 8 minutes on one, 10 minutes on the other, then off for 3 minutes on one, 4 minutes on the other, giving me some random eddies and currents, but primarily, the current in the tank is circular.

Ideal? Probably not, but... there's lots of laminar flow, with some random currents. Seems the best I can do with this setup.

The Rossmont pumps have so far held up very well. They're easy to clean, mount securely, and are reasonably quiet (quieter than Vortech, anyway... That hum drives me nuts!) I note that BRS no longer shows them in stock. Not sure why, perhaps they weren't that popular? Amazon still has them. I may one day buy the controller, so I can ramp them up and down, but I haven't done so yet.

cracker · Apr 19, 2018

I had koralia's on 220 then went with the korallia wavemaker & 4 big heads. Baseball big. they worked well still have the system stored. I wanted a more slimmlook so went with Maxpect gyre 250's on a new 180 Great flow but had to re;place both in a 2 years. I have 2 plain koralia's on the 75 & would like to improve flow.

Saltyanimals · Apr 19, 2018

Big fan of the vortech for the ease of maintenance with only needing to remove the wet side.

Had jaebaos when I was starting out and they were fine especially when you apex them up and get some fancy wanna be vortech flow programs with RWs. They would ramp up various speeds and wave patterns and sync. My poor mans vortec. But was fine.

tangtime · Apr 19, 2018

Run 2 rw-15’s on else mode in a 180. Have used them for years and so far only one crapped out. You can get a warranty in them through square trade on eBay as well, for a bit extra.

tony'stank · Apr 19, 2018

I have a RSR 450. I use a Gyre 150 and an MP40. I found that the wet sides on the MP40 only last 2-3 years before they get out of balance and have to be replaced

DesertReefT4r · Apr 19, 2018

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
I bought an MP10 used. Works fine, but I probably won't buy another. Too expensive. Have a Jebao PP-4 in my display and another in my frag tray. Great flow for the price. They're not the most reliable, but an Ecotech Vortech is around 5 times more expensive than a similar flow Jebao. Plus, the Vortechs only come with a one year warranty. While Vortechs usually last more than a year, if anything fails outside that first year, you're on the hook. For the cost of most of the Vortech's replacement parts, you could buy a whole new Jebao pump. With those numbers, I'll take my chances on the Jebao.

Thats was my reasoning as well on buying the Jeboa pumps.

Dburr1014 · Apr 20, 2018

I had 2 hydors {older models} but they both were leaking voltage in the Tank so I bought 2 jebao. 2 years, still going.

Hammer100 · Apr 20, 2018

i have 2 xf250 gyres on either end, 2 WAV and one old hydor on the back glass of my 180.

BZOFIQ · Apr 20, 2018

I've used Hydor Koralias for years. Matter of fact, I still have some that are about 10 years old. I have never had any problems with pumps starting backwards, etc. The Koralia MAGNUMS (I used 7 & 8) are perhaps little on the larger side they push TON of water and are extremely reliable. They can be connected to a cheap pseudo-wave maker that is very affordable and just plain work. I've had it overgrow with coraline algae to the point where you couldnt recognize what's in my tank and they would still work. Years would go by before I would dip it in Vinegar to get it back into the new shape again. Would never complain about these guys.

Then there is this other powerhead. I hear people left and right with wet-side failed/ dry side failed, I've seen people with scratches on glass from these powerheads - but people still love it; I can't explain it. I call it the Apple/Starbucks effect!

One thing I noticed, my 10 years old Koralias 4 which were rated at around 1400GPH push way more water than new Koralias that are rated at more than 2000 GPH; figures. I currently use both types on my holding system.

Like everyone else, I picked up 5 jebaos 3 years back; all different sizes. I loved the wave action and all at the beginning but none of them lasted past 6-9 months; total utter crap!
My old Koralias that I was going to donate to a local society went back in the tanks and are working still.

That said I have some new Magnums waiting for my new build and I will most likely try a Tunze controllable type when I finally set it up.

valsterb · Apr 20, 2018

2 x Ecotech MP-40 QD here. Like them a lot, ease of cleaning. Not sure about the Ecotech Livelink yet, which syncs my powerhead to my Radions XR-30 G3. Seems it's always offline... I run a 6' 180 gal. Might put another MP-10 in there

terri_ann · Apr 26, 2018

It really is a matter of preference, budget, inhabitants, what you are needing/wanting, etc. Keeping detritus from settling is critical over the long haul, with random, indirect flow. My priority starts with keeping detritus in the water column so it can be filtered/skimmed out. Second is reliability and the ability to move the flow for adjustment(as corals grow/ rockscape changes}. I prefer several smaller powerheads over one larger one. Third is maintenance and aesthestics.