powerhead suggestions.

[SWFitzy]

collecting all of the goodies for my new 70 gallon sw build. 3' x 2' by 18"h. 34 gallon sump.

looking for suggestions on current powerheads. What is good? what is bad? what should i use as a combo with timers or controlers?

[mikerobart]

Vortech if you can stomach the $... Or Tunze. The new korallia evo's look great, affordable and can be run on a wavemaker or controller.

[cokelon]

there is a new one from vortech, check them out!!  yes they are $$ but they have many settings. I would recommend to get vortech if you had a bigger tank like a 6footer then you can create wave motions. So I would go with koralia powerheads, they are very good I have a 75g and I have 2 koralia 4's and 1 koralia 3. 20gallon sump with a mag9.5


hope this helps if you have any questions send me a pm

[Vincenzo.]

Mp20

[salvini55]

for a 75gallon i suggest 10 mp40's  . Koralias are a great choice as well

[redbelly]

Vortech MP40 all the way!

That would be the one and only pump you would need for the tank and the flow from these are just amazing!

[SWFitzy]

Where is the best deal on a MP40? I am willing to buy 2, as for my father would use one, ( fathers day is soon enough )
Anyone know where they can be purchased at the best price? I found 400 with shipping on ebay...

thx for the imput

[mikerobart]

You know if you're going full sps when they grow in a few years down the line you may need that 2nd one regardless  .

In Ottawa I know Pat (redbelly) at Ottawa Inverts, who has already posted here stocks them. That ebay price sounds good and the dollar is strong.

Usually our local sponsors prices are good and will be very close to the online shops especially when shipping and exchange are considered, but 400 for a new one is a steal.

[salvini55]

there will likely be cheap deals on the old MP40 drivers, seeing as how everybody is going to be upgrading the the new driver

[mikerobart]

If I was buying one and didn't care about being able to get support locally ( I do...) marinedepot, $394.99 w/ free shipping to my folks US address, and pick it up on a trip to visit them... brand new no shipping no duty no tax can't do much better than that. Wait for an extra strong day for the loonie and a bank that won't gouge you for conversion. Whenever the dollar gets high I get extra trigger happy for online stuff.

That being said, lots of gen2's on RC going for ~$325 BNIB shipped to US addresses.

Still, having to ship to ecotech if something goes wrong as opposed to having a local dealer help you out may not justify your savings.

[ray]

The new Hydor Evolution should be able to be controlled by the ReefKeepers.at a much less cost and allowing more flexibility.

Ray

[mikerobart]

Yeah those look great and pretty cheap too apparently no issues with switching them on and off with a wavemaker or something like the rk controllers like you say.

The new Hydor Evolution should be able to be controlled by the ReefKeepers.at a much less cost and allowing more flexibility.

Ray

[SWFitzy]

are the evos power cords inside or out of the tank.

[mikerobart]

In the tank. As far as I know the Ecotech pumps are the ONLY ones to have the motor assembly on the outside, and I believe they have a patent on the design.

are the evos power cords inside or out of the tank.

[Hookup]

The new Hydor Evolution should be able to be controlled by the ReefKeepers.at a much less cost and allowing more flexibility.

Ray

Hey Ray,
  I looked at these pumps with respect to being flexible/creating flow, etc... but all I can find is that they can be put on timers.  Can they create random/variable flows when connected to the RK's?  Most people I know bought the vortex for either the Lagoon mode or ReefCrest modes which are truly random flows varying the RPM of the pump not just on/off cycles.  Can an RK + Hydor Evo do that now as well?

  I like the high-energy efficiency of these pumps!  Going green in this hobby is a darn good idea and these are efficient pumps.

[mikerobart]

The reviews I read said they are ok on timers... so on a controller you could get "random" flow I suppose just not "variable". Don't think they have variable speed nor would I expect it at that price point. Even the soft start is a nice feature though. Definitely a huge improvement from the k1-k4's that have sort of become pretty common in budget minded builds.

Only variable speed korallias are the 12v controllable ones I think.

[redbelly]

Pumps sold within the US are not covered by warranty within Canada unfortunately. So if anything goes wrong you have to ship it back to Ecotech in the US.

That being said you should be able to find a comparable price on an MP40 within Canada as the new MP40 ES is out.
Give us a shout and we will see what we can work out for you.