Quiet return pump?

Alarsen77 · Dec 25, 2011

Hey guys, so I recently added a sump to my 70 gallon cube using an hob overflow box, I have had a mag 2 pump running it for now but I know I need more pump for my tank. I was looking at just getting a mag 5 but was wondering are their any other pumps out there that maybe I could consider that may run quieter than the mag pumps? Also is a mag 5 a big enough pump?

wrasseluver · Dec 25, 2011

Im running a tunze return and love it. It has adjustable flow runs cool and low wattage. Here the link.

Tunze Silence Electronic Recirculation Pump 1073.05

Troylee · Dec 25, 2011

Ehiem 1260 or a quiet one 2200 would be nice... If you wanna really get some turn over a laguna 1500 would be the hot ticket..

Breakin Newz · Dec 25, 2011

Eheims or OceanRunners!

andywe · Dec 25, 2011

Eheim are indeed quiet. One pump that has actually done very well for me and others is ECOPlus. They really have been VERY dependable, cheap, and run very quiet. Been running a few of them for 2 years now and they have outlasted any Mag or Quiet One I have run.
On the more expensive side, Sicce has some awesome pumps that are VERY quiet and low power consumption, but they are a bit more expensive.
Cheers and Merry Xmas!

Aquaph8 · Dec 25, 2011

Water blaster pumps are awesome and have low power consumption.

SethTheWineGuy · Dec 25, 2011

+1000 Eheims

Troylee · Dec 25, 2011

andywe said:
Eheim are indeed quiet. One pump that has actually done very well for me and others is ECOPlus. They really have been VERY dependable, cheap, and run very quiet. Been running a few of them for 2 years now and they have outlasted any Mag or Quiet One I have run.
On the more expensive side, Sicce has some awesome pumps that are VERY quiet and low power consumption, but they are a bit more expensive.
Cheers and Merry Xmas!

Fwiw a quiet one is a sicce pump lol...

Reef UP · Dec 25, 2011

+1 all parts are interchangeable

blurry · Dec 25, 2011

Check out the quiet one pumps, I've been very impressed and am slowly replacing my mags with them. Nice fittings, easy to remove and clean. also don't leak externally like the mags do on occasion.

andywe · Dec 25, 2011

Quiet one melt over time. Don't Ask Me why, but a bunch of folks have had this happen.

How are Sicce Syncra and Quiet One pumps the same? The new sicce's are vastly different in design and Lifeguard makes Quiet One pumps, so this is baffling. Do please explain.

Troylee · Dec 25, 2011

Sicce manufactures them for pentair... Same goes with red dragon, swc askoll, atb airstar, there all Hagen pumps aka laguna... Just slight mods to the volutes and a new sticker makes it there's....

andywe · Dec 25, 2011

Ugh..glad I didn't spend the money on the sicce then. I have had thread have the plastic inside melt, warping the cylinder that encases the impeller. My LFS here (a reputable one for almost 20 years) stopped carrying them because he had a number of returns, and several in my club had the same thing happen. I travel a bit and also had heard the same behavior up and down the east coast. The Sicce branded ones have a different body shape, so I wonder if they dissipate heat any more efficiently, or have some better electronics in the (higher quality mag and power supply) that runs cooler. Good info to know, cause the QO's do add quite a bit of heat to the tanks. I have 7 tanks and ran QO's on 5 of them until this problem started happening.
ANyway, the EcoPlus is worth a check..they are not expensive, yet perform better IMHO than the QO's..less vibration and run cooler. Maybe Sicce fixed the QO heat problem. The QO was designed as a pond pump (cold water) pump so perhaps the 78 degrees is just too much?

Happy reefing, and thanks for the explanation guys!

Alarsen77 · Dec 27, 2011

So I'm going to order a new return pump today I am thinking of going with a quiet one 300, my question is do you think that will be too much flow? I have about 4-5 ft from the pump to the return. Right now it seems like I have pretty decent water flow through my filter with the model two I put on to get it running. I also have a koralia evolution 1050 in the tank for flow. Te tank seems to have plenty of flow in it so my question is do you think I need to have more water running through my filter for better filtration?

Alarsen77 · Dec 27, 2011

Oh forgot to mention its a 70 gallon cube not drilled using a hob overflow

Alarsen77 · Dec 27, 2011

The eheim 1260 looks really nice but a bit pricey at that price I could almost get a water blaster pump

AJQ69 · Dec 27, 2011

Eheims,IMO

Alarsen77 · Dec 27, 2011

I just ordered a Sicce Synra 3.0 we will see how it works.

btkrausen · Dec 27, 2011

I like the water blaster pumps by Reef Octopus...very quiet and very low power consumption as mentioned earlier. I run a Water Blaster 7000 on my 220 and you don't even hear it. Additionally my skimmer runs the bubble blaster 3000 (modified water blaster for skimmers) and its a beast and quiet as well.

andywe · Dec 27, 2011

FYI SIcce vs quiet one parts.....the PSK's may be the ones that have similar parts, Iw as referring to the SYncra. Looks like it does;t apply to the SYncra line (which is what Iw as referring to but didn't make clear). PSK models look like the same impeller as the QO's. Can anyone confirm this is the case?