best return pump for the money?

[Hilltopreef]

Current E-flux dc pumps! great pumps with people who stand behind them!

 

[AJsReef]

Yes true, I have a Red Dragon and a Ecotech Vectra S1, people said the Ecotech is silent. No pump is truly silent but my Red Dragon I can barely hear from inside the cabinet, it is mounted underwater, I cannot hear it from 1 meter away. My Ecotech is quiet, but I can hear it from the other side of the room. They are both quiet pumps, but 1 is practically silent and one is quiet.

I bought the Red Dragon because my 7 foot tank is opposite my bedroom, the pump it replaced an AC pump a 5000lph Eheim, would give a low frequency hum which was very annoying at night.

As someone who’s obsessive with noise, I agree 100%. My Varios is quiet vs “standard” but I can pick up on it if the house is quiet. Even when I’m in my bedroom which is about 30’ away. I guess I’m wired to pick up on certain frequencies.

As a result, I’m the kind of guy who wants to see my tank but not hear a thing. I had a NYOS 220 that I put up with for quite a while but recently switched to a BK180 w/ Red Dragon and I’m astonished how quiet it is. So surprised, I’m probably going to switch out my return for one shortly. Initially, only con for the Red Dragons is the control box not being removable for easy running of wires. When I found out the control box is IP68 rated (water submersion proof) this gripe went away.

What Red Dragon do you run?

 

[JBulk09]

Ac is the way to go and control it with a valve. They are just more reliable imo

 

[Jdurm55]

Thanks for all the comments! Didn’t expect to get this much comments! I’m probably going to go with a jebao return or a varios. I know I wanted to stay under 200 but I’ve seen nothing but good from the varios pumps. Hobby makes things tough sometimes with all the choices lol. I’ve got a build thread going to if you all ever wanted to follow along. It’s almost there just a couple more things to put together. With everything going on in the world right now it’s slowing it down a tad. Thanks guys!

Build Thread - Johnny’s 75g build

Hey guys just starting a new thread on my upcoming 75 gallon reef build. Have a 30 gallon jbj aio right now. Got a offer I couldn’t turn down on a reef ready 75. Got tank stand sump skimmer pump and heater all for 100! I’m starting tonight by sanding down the black stand to be able to paint it...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[jda]

There is nary a DC pump on the market that has been around long enough without iterations to know if they are truly reliable... maybe a Red Dragon, but way out of budget. Even the ones that have been out longer need another 5-8 years to truly know.

Askol block pumps (fluval, laguna), Ehien, Tunze, Sicce, Mag Drive have all been running for decades.

 

[Plecosam]

As someone who’s obsessive with noise, I agree 100%. My Varios is quiet vs “standard” but I can pick up on it if the house is quiet. Even when I’m in my bedroom which is about 30’ away. I guess I’m wired to pick up on certain frequencies.

As a result, I’m the kind of guy who wants to see my tank but not hear a thing. I had a NYOS 220 that I put up with for quite a while but recently switched to a BK180 w/ Red Dragon and I’m astonished how quiet it is. So surprised, I’m probably going to switch out my return for one shortly. Initially, only con for the Red Dragons is the control box not being removable for easy running of wires. When I found out the control box is IP68 rated (water submersion proof) this gripe went away.

What Red Dragon do you run?

Hey mate, yeah agree, for me it is a bit like silent pc's, my water cooled pc is quiet but it is not silent, I can hear it but barely. Many Reddit user's say silent pc, which is just not possible, fans and a spinning pump makes noise, it is just a fact.

A red dragon underwater is practically silent, I can hear it but barely, I remember turning it on and thinking I bought a dud. I am not saying Red Dragon pumps are the best pumps out there, I do not know if they are and they are very expensive but for my situation and a good nights sleep the 700 dollar AUD price tag was well worth it.

I would image Abyzz would be as quiet, it is hard not to sound like a fanboy because i am not but I suppose it is one of things that you do not know what you do not know. Perhaps those who think ecotech are silent do so until they hear a Red Dragon or similar.

I run a Red Dragon Mini 3 Speedy 50W or Fiddy Watt.

 

[Slawman]

Hey mate, yeah agree, for me it is a bit like silent pc's, my water cooled pc is quiet but it is not silent, I can hear it but barely. Many Reddit user's say silent pc, which is just not possible, fans and a spinning pump makes noise, it is just a fact.

A red dragon underwater is practically silent, I can hear it but barely, I remember turning it on and thinking I bought a dud. I am not saying Red Dragon pumps are the best pumps out there, I do not know if they are and they are very expensive but for my situation and a good nights sleep the 700 dollar AUD price tag was well worth it.

I would image Abyzz would be as quiet, it is hard not to sound like a fanboy because i am not but I suppose it is one of things that you do not know what you do not know. Perhaps those who think ecotech are silent do so until they hear a Red Dragon or similar.

I run a Red Dragon Mini 3 Speedy 50W or Fiddy Watt.

The ecotech are noisy by comparison. I have both the Ecotech vectra V2 and the Speedy 3 (80w) and they are chalk and cheese. Not too much difference in the price down under either....

 

[AJsReef]

Hey mate, yeah agree, for me it is a bit like silent pc's, my water cooled pc is quiet but it is not silent, I can hear it but barely. Many Reddit user's say silent pc, which is just not possible, fans and a spinning pump makes noise, it is just a fact.

A red dragon underwater is practically silent, I can hear it but barely, I remember turning it on and thinking I bought a dud. I am not saying Red Dragon pumps are the best pumps out there, I do not know if they are and they are very expensive but for my situation and a good nights sleep the 700 dollar AUD price tag was well worth it.

I would image Abyzz would be as quiet, it is hard not to sound like a fanboy because i am not but I suppose it is one of things that you do not know what you do not know. Perhaps those who think ecotech are silent do so until they hear a Red Dragon or similar.

I run a Red Dragon Mini 3 Speedy 50W or Fiddy Watt.

The ecotech are noisy by comparison. I have both the Ecotech vectra V2 and the Speedy 3 (80w) and they are chalk and cheese. Not too much difference in the price down under either....

Sure not helping my wallet ... I’m going to test the noise by turning off my return and leaving my speedy running my skimmer. As far as I can tell it’s darn near silent but I haven’t had it running without the return on. I really can’t stand hearing anything electrical at night... Now if only I could quiet the bloody fridge.

 

[Potatohead]

IMO, while I can agree that the return pump is a vital part of any system, I don't agree that it is a "tank killer" fail point for MANY systems. Depending on how your system is setup, it would not be a huge concern if the return pump failed. My system is a good example of this. I have NO refugium to worry about. There are only 3 things in my sump - heater, skimmer, and return pump. I have 2 MP40's in the display for most of the water movement. If my return did fail (I have never had it happen) my tank would continue to run as though nothing was wrong. Living in AZ means I don't even worry about water temp if this were to happen.

As for the quality of the Jebao improving, I can say with certainty that it has. The first few generations of their returns were quite terrible. They were unreliable, poorly made, WAY overrated flow, etc. Over the years they have improved dramatically! My DCP's have been perfectly reliable, I have an extra on hand in case one ever did have an issue (which I think should be the case whatever pump you chose to get), but like I said, it has never happened to me and I have been using Jebao returns for almost 10 years.

I'm not trying to convince you to change or anything, but we cannot all afford to get an $800-$1500 pump, let alone have a 2nd for backup. We can however afford to get a $150 pump and even have another on backup.

He's not saying you need to spend more money, he's just saying it makes more sense to buy a proven AC pump if your budget is under $200.

Return pump failure is a big deal. If mine fails my system will be at a critically low temperature within about 2 - 3 hours. I'm sure other people are the same.

 

[Slawman]

He's not saying you need to spend more money, he's just saying it makes more sense to buy a proven AC pump if your budget is under $200.

Return pump failure is a big deal. If mine fails my system will be at a critically low temperature within about 2 - 3 hours. I'm sure other people are the same.

I haven't always had lots of dough to spend on gear and I have lost more than one setup due to a faulty return pump, not always cheap DC I must add but it only needs to happen once.... That is exactly what I am saying, for 200 bucks there are much more proven reliable options than DC right now.

 

[S.Pepper]

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[Matt Carden]

It's an AC pump, it will be louder. They typically get quieter after about 72 hours. Of course, Sicce also makes DC pumps.

It will also last at least three times as long, if something does break parts are actually available, and it supports a company that doesn't steal intellectual property.

Actually I believe their "DC" pump is just a controllable AC pump. There isn't anything definitive online so you'd have to talk to someone on the phone to verify.

 

[Matt Carden]

Out of curiosity, have you ever used a Jebao return pump? If so which one and what made it such a bad exprrience?

I used a Jaebo DCP8000. I still have that pump will be used for water changes. As I explained earlier there isn't much force behind the flow. I bought a Sicce Syncra 9.0 for $250 with the equivalent Jaebo being $100. The Sicce 9.0 has at least 5 times the force behind the flow. I can divert the extra flow to reactors or ATS or back through the sump to "control" the flow to the DT.

My biggest gripe now with Jaebo is that I bought the DCP8000 for $65 now its $100. At 25% the price of a Sicce it was worth it.
At 40% it's no longer worth going with the cheaper pump.

 

[trmiv]

Every time I want to get a fancy DC pump I realize my Eheim 1262 has been running strong for 14 years and I change my mind. I just use a ball valve to tune the flow and I rarely touch it.

 

[snowhite]

I have not yet purchased one, however in the manual for the 6000 unit it says that it starts at 60% after a power outage.

They "ramp up" after a power outage or being turned off. Meaning they start out at low power and speed up to the previous setting to avoid a burst of flow. There are many translation inconsistencies in their manuals.

 

[Mhart032]

I used a Jeabo to start my red sea, it was a good pump, after reading some reliability issues ( which i didnt have at the time) i decided to make the switch being that im gone a ton, i switched to the Abyzz.

 

[ScottB]

I may be in the minority here but I have no idea why someone would buy a Jebao pump when you can buy a Sicce or Eheim or Tunze that will last ten years or more for similar money.

+1 although my Sicce DC is anything but silent.

 

[Hilltopreef]

The Eheim 1262 is an excellent pump. Just wasn’t big enough for my 180 gallon reef. The head loss was too much when split between two returns. Otherwise a great pump. That’s what I had in my sump before my Current E-flux dc Pump. The Current Pump runs cooler and is much more powerful by more than double.

 

[Jeeperz]

I have a simplicity 1600dc on my reefer 350. Started running at 50% with a dual nozzle return. Not much flow. Cranked it up to 100% . Still doesn't seem to have a lot of flow. This should be a lot of flow for the tank but doesn't even move sand when nozzles are aimed. That said, it's quiet. I also have the simplicity dc120 skimmer that just won't stop making bubbles in my display no matter what I try with it's settings.

 

[ksed]

You can mitigate any reliability concerns by having two return pumps. This also applies to reliable AC pumps, as I’ve seen impeller magnets swelling and impeller blades break. In this case I would prefer two smaller Jebaos which would cost similar to 1 good AC pump.
Sicce SDC pumps have good power/flow ratio, but are noisy and vibrate a lot compared to other DC.
DC pumps are essentially AC