Which powerheads are the best in 2018

[minus9]

For size, money and the amount of water they move, I would do two Tunze 6040's. I had two in my 22g sps dominant tank and I never had them at 100%. I think these are very underrated pumps. Lots of flow options, easy to clean, etc.... If you have an apex, you can program them to no end.

 

[minus9]

BTW, the Tunze stream 3 would stick out of a 40b and put most of the water on the floor. Just kidding, those things are huge. I tried one in my 90g shallow and it wouldn't fit anywhere without sucking up sand. They're really designed for much larger tanks, at least 20" tall.

 

[Centerline]

Single point of failure for something as important as flow? No thanks. As for power heads, I agree with many about the MP-10, quite unless it’s ramped to 100% in a quite room. How about the new Nero pumps from AI, or the Neptune wave makers if you have an apex.

Several years ago I had a bunch of MP10s - not silent at all.

I currently run gyres on three different tanks, very quiet. I keep them below 80% and use two on each tank. The water flow makes more noise than the pumps by far.

 

[Vuuduu]

Mp 40 or 10 are silent and easiest to clean out of any pump. I seriously take mine out every 2 weeks just to scrub down with a brush. I never get buildup this way, and it takes 5 min.

Gyre is nice spread flow. Does get reduced performance if left for months without cleaning, and is kinda a pain to clean.

I run mp40 solely now, even on back of tank instead of mp10, just turn them way down. the maintenance factor makes it worth it to me.

the price between the 2 isn’t that much, and if you even want a position for more flow you have it already