Recommend me a powerhead

Kirschy17 · Dec 11, 2019

Hey folks,
My tank is a 2 year old mixed reef. Im looking to increase my flow a bit. The tank is a red sea max250 so thers 2 turnowerpumps which turnover 4000l/h . I want to add a powerhead/wavemaker. Im on a budget. Currently ive been looking on jebao pumps and i found this new slw model. I actually dont get the differences in jebao pumps? Any recommendations? If i go jebao which pump would u pick?

Ive also been looking at koralias or tunze nano streams. I dont want to pay more than ~60-80$. Tank is lps focused but id still like to aim at medium-high flow atleast on top of the watercolumn.

Thanks in advance, helps appreciated!!

Auquanut · Dec 14, 2019

I use 2 Jebao PP-8's and 2 Hydor Koralia power heads in my 125. Both brands seem to be really quiet, easy to clean and very reliable. What I really like about the Jeabao's is that the flow is adjustable and they each come with a wave maker that is connected to each other wireless, allowing for some pretty random flow. Might be over budget, but worth looking into.
Hope this helps.

sde1500 · Dec 14, 2019

Tunze is rock solid. I’d go with that

Quietman · Dec 14, 2019

You could also look at the Sicce Voyager 2 or 3. It's a bigger pump but only AC pump thats designed for controller. So it's cheap, reliable, controllable and quiet. Trade off is size.

Blitheran · Dec 14, 2019

Vortech

ksed · Dec 14, 2019

Also have a look at CoralBox

Kirschy17 · Dec 14, 2019

Auquanut said:
I use 2 Jebao PP-8's and 2 Hydor Koralia power heads in my 125. Both brands seem to be really quiet, easy to clean and very reliable. What I really like about the Jeabao's is that the flow is adjustable and they each come with a wave maker that is connected to each other wireless, allowing for some pretty random flow. Might be over budget, but worth looking into.
Hope this helps.

I went with a jebao sow-8. I liked it best in terms of bang for my bucks. I almost went with ac koralias too but i simply couldn't resist skipping out on the cool DC wavemaker functionality.

Kirschy17 · Dec 14, 2019

Blitheran said:
Vortech

I sincerely hope there will come a time i can look at Vortech pumps and legit think about getting them . Outta my ballpark by far, sadly

Blitheran · Dec 14, 2019

Buy used

Kirschy17 said:
I sincerely hope there will come a time i can look at Vortech pumps and legit think about getting them . Outta my ballpark by far, sadly

buy used. I bought a one year old MP10QDw for $160

and found a local guy selling an MPQDw that was 3 months old for $150.
I bought two like new vortech pumps for the price of one brand new one.

Salty Lemon · Dec 14, 2019

Kirschy17 said:
Hey folks,
My tank is a 2 year old mixed reef. Im looking to increase my flow a bit. The tank is a red sea max250 so thers 2 turnowerpumps which turnover 4000l/h . I want to add a powerhead/wavemaker. Im on a budget. Currently ive been looking on jebao pumps and i found this new slw model. I actually dont get the differences in jebao pumps? Any recommendations? If i go jebao which pump would u pick?

Ive also been looking at koralias or tunze nano streams. I dont want to pay more than ~60-80$. Tank is lps focused but id still like to aim at medium-high flow atleast on top of the watercolumn.

Thanks in advance, helps appreciated!!

I'm a few days late on this... But I love my Gyres. They work great. If you want it more economical, I really like the Hydors. They work well, are dependable, and I keep my old ones on hand in case I ever need extra flow. I've had really good luck with them in the past. Have fun!

mfinn · Dec 14, 2019

You just can not beat the reliability and longevity of Tunze.
You said you have a small budget and Tunze isn't going to fit in it, but I would suggest you dig a little deeper and get a powerhead that's going to last.

Sailfin11 · Dec 14, 2019

Rossmont powerheads. They have a 3-year warranty at a great price point!

Kirschy17 · Dec 14, 2019

mfinn said:
You just can not beat the reliability and longevity of Tunze.
You said you have a small budget and Tunze isn't going to fit in it, but I would suggest you dig a little deeper and get a powerhead that's going to last.

I was looking for some form of controlability to create a bit of a changeup in flow. The tank is only 3 foot long with 2 2000l/h turnover pumps aimed from each backcorner (its a red sea max 250 AIO if u are familiar with those). I decided against ac pumps as they would’ve created some unnatural growing patterns as the flow would have been very linear in a way.

I went with a jebao wavemaker now and hope they serve me long enough. I know its a risk to go for the cheap option but it was kinda a decidion between being able to afford a wavemaker or not...

LC8Sumi · Dec 14, 2019

Tunze is really good value for money, I'd go for the 6055. That said, the Jeabos are not that bad either for the money, and they can last a couple years if you're lucky. I had three so far, one died in about half a year, the other in 1 year, and one is still going after 5 years.

mfinn · Dec 14, 2019

Kirschy17 said:
I was looking for some form of controlability to create a bit of a changeup in flow. The tank is only 3 foot long with 2 2000l/h turnover pumps aimed from each backcorner (its a red sea max 250 AIO if u are familiar with those). I decided against ac pumps as they would’ve created some unnatural growing patterns as the flow would have been very linear in a way.

I went with a jebao wavemaker now and hope they serve me long enough. I know its a risk to go for the cheap option but it was kinda a decidion between being able to afford a wavemaker or not...

Tunze pumps have controllers with different flow patterns.
I use a pair of the Tunze 6055's on my 32" x 24" x 20" tank. They were also used on the previous 30" x 20" x 20" tank.
I do know about budgets. I am retired on a fixed income that's no where near what I earned when I was working.
So I always look for deals.
Keep Tunze in mind in the future.

JS_racer · Dec 16, 2019

mfinn said:
Tunze pumps have controllers with different flow patterns.
I use a pair of the Tunze 6055's on my 32" x 24" x 20" tank. They were also used on the previous 30" x 20" x 20" tank.
I do know about budgets. I am retired on a fixed income that's no where near what I earned when I was working.
So I always look for deals.
Keep Tunze in mind in the future.

Looking at a pair of 6055 for my 58 36x18x18
Thoughts how they are working out, and is the flow low enough if need be? Are the nozzles wide enough, debating the wider covers too. The other ones on my radar are the octa 2.
I have the 6095 pair controlled by my apex on my 120, have had them several years. No issues

Thanks for the time

mfinn · Dec 16, 2019

JS_racer said:
Looking at a pair of 6055 for my 58 36x18x18
Thoughts how they are working out, and is the flow low enough if need be? Are the nozzles wide enough, debating the wider covers too. The other ones on my radar are the octa 2.
I have the 6095 pair controlled by my apex on my 120, have had them several years. No issues

Thanks for the time

They dial down pretty low, but on a 36" tank my guess is you would be in the mid to upper range.
They are one of the best in this size and power IMO.