Let's talk about powerheads

TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#1
#1
I am currently running 2 of the Maxspect Gyre pumps on my display. My wife is sick of the noise and said she would pay big bucks to silence the problem. I could take them apart and try to clean them up, but they do seem to be more on the noisy side than I would like, and always touchy on the reassembly part....like everything has to be just prefect for them to be quieter.

So I was thinking maybe a pair of AI Nero's, but I wasn't a fan of the AI customer service and their LED lights when I had them.

I've never had Vortech's, AquaMedic, or Tunze...

Ideally I'd like something that would link together that might provide alternating current. And possibly/maybe/hopefully just one on each end.

So I'm looking for opinions to help me make my decision. Tank is 6ft long, 24 inches deep, and bow front.
 
Fourthwind

Fourthwind

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
#2
cannot tell you about the vortechs, but have had no issues with my aquamedic over the last two years. Has been quiet. Mine is smaller than what you would be using. My guess is the larger the water movement the larger the noise it takes to make it.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
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#3
#3
EcoDrift are fine... they break after a few years, IME. I have had 5-6 of them and they are better than Jeabo, but not like a Tunze... in the middle. They are not expensive, so this is probably OK. The larger ones (14 and 20) are not quiet and are easily heard out the front of the tank.

Tunze are the gold standard for quiet and reliable. There is nothing else like them.
 
Dr.DiSilicate

Dr.DiSilicate

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#4
#4
I had some tunze a few years back. They were used, old and SILENT/powerful!


Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#7
#7
jda123 said:
EcoDrift are fine... they break after a few years, IME. I have had 5-6 of them and they are better than Jeabo, but not like a Tunze... in the middle. They are not expensive, so this is probably OK. The larger ones (14 and 20) are not quiet and are easily heard out the front of the tank.

Tunze are the gold standard for quiet and reliable. There is nothing else like them.
Click to expand...
You have one of the Comline waveboxes don't you? Do you like them?
 
neil82

neil82

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
#10
Now I have that Salt-N-Pepa song stuck in my head LOL. Maybe no one will know what I'm talking about...
I like my MP40s. I run two of the older style 'non QD' and I think they are pretty quiet. I can't hear them over the overflow drain and skimmer. Clean them about every 6 weeks.
 
ReefCheif

ReefCheif

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#11
#11
I run 4 Tunze 6045s on my 120, i cant hear them at all.
 
MuralReef

MuralReef

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#12
#12
I would go with Tunze. I have run a variety of powerheads and like them the best. They are quiet and can be controlled either by their controllers or an APEX. Vortechs are nice, but can be loud without the QD. Plus vortechs are hard to clean and the exterior part can be obtrusive compared to a magnet. I always feel like I am going to break them taking them apart and have cut myself on coraline when dismantling them.

WAVs from Neptune aren't bad either, but you can only control up to 3 with the 1 Link controller so if you want 4 or more you will need an additional 1 Link.

I do also have a Rossmont 4100 that really pumps some water, but I have not tried it with their controller. I assume their controller will only pulse on/off, but I have not even looked at them. They are quiet.
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#14
#14
MuralReef said:
I would go with Tunze. I have run a variety of powerheads and like them the best. They are quiet and can be controlled either by their controllers or an APEX. Vortechs are nice, but can be loud without the QD. Plus vortechs are hard to clean and the exterior part can be obtrusive compared to a magnet. I always feel like I am going to break them taking them apart and have cut myself on coraline when dismantling them.

WAVs from Neptune aren't bad either, but you can only control up to 3 with the 1 Link controller so if you want 4 or more you will need an additional 1 Link.

I do also have a Rossmont 4100 that really pumps some water, but I have not tried it with their controller. I assume their controller will only pulse on/off, but I have not even looked at them. They are quiet.
Click to expand...
Did you ever get the Tunze Stream 3? I thought you were thinking out one a while back...
 
zombie

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
#15
Make sure you assembled and set the direction on the gyre properly. My Gyre is extremely quiet in the forward direction but is very loud when I run it in reverse.

Sent from my SM-G965U using MASC mobile app
 
MuralReef

MuralReef

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#16
#16
TheRealChrisBrown said:
Did you ever get the Tunze Stream 3? I thought you were thinking out one a while back...
Click to expand...
I actually got two of them and they too are really quiet. I haven’t really played around with them much but they come with three different options for flow output. I will probably try the narrower stream to see how that changes the flow. They do put out a lot of flow though.


Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 
MuralReef

MuralReef

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#17
#17
TheRealChrisBrown said:
Did you ever get the Tunze Stream 3? I thought you were thinking out one a while back...
Click to expand...
I actually got two of them and they too are really quiet. I haven’t really played around with them much but they come with three different options for flow output. I will probably try the narrower stream to see how that changes the flow. They do put out a lot of flow though.


Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 
K

Kayvon

Blenny
#18
#18
TheRealChrisBrown said:
You have one of the Comline waveboxes don't you? Do you like them?
Click to expand...
I was over at jds's place to pick up some corals last week and I bought a wavebox after seeing his tank. I like how it moves the water back and forth making it perfect for acros and euphyilias. It also hits all corners of the tank. I don't think I'd use it as the sole source of flow tho.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#19
#19
I do use wavebox. I will likely use one on every long tank that I have - they don't work well on cubes, but on 4, 6, 7 and 8 foot tanks, I love them. They move all of the tank water all of the time. You still need some flow pumps to move things around, but I love how well the coral branches are formed with a wavebox.
 
DyM

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#20
#20
I have a 5 ft tank, 155 gal and have 2 Tunze 6105's and 2 Tunze 6095's. I do not have a wave box. Silent, flexible. The only issue is each pump having a controller is great to put flow during the day to create random flows, but when you want to calm things down at night, or do other random things, you get beyond what a Tunze 7095 controller can do. I now have them on the Apex, but to me it was a PITA to configure, and still tweaking flow/program/profile/outlet/virtual switch combinations. These pumps are really reliable, and to your point - quiet. A huge plus - I have older pumps. Getting parts and support from Tunze is in my option, is the best in this industry.

A friend of mine has all the new Vortech's. To me, and this is my option, there is still a winding noise from them. Not nearly as bad as his older ones, but I still hear them when I'm there. It's not bad though, and I think they are quality pumps. There are a lot of companies in this market, you can spend a lot of time looking. I was looking at the Wave's from Neptune but there are a ton of reports of quality longevity issues. You simply can't go wrong with the Tunze's.

Are you planning on putting these to an Apex?
 
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