roberthu526
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
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I got the XF250 with 20% off thanks to the blackfriday deals. Bought one pump and one pump plus the 2nd gen controller combo. Overall I think the pumps are very impressive. But keep in mind this comes from a guy who only had used hydor koralia and Jebao. Below are something I thought worth mentioning.
1. The package is solid and everything was over protected. Cardboard box then foam then a metal box then you have more foam inside of it and finally you get to see your pump. Everything in the box is a quite hefty and makes me feel they are good quality. The magnets are super strong and I know the package says use caution but I still managed to clamp my finger in between and I got say it hurts... Also, the pump comes with the dry and wet side magnets stuck together and while trying to break them apart, the rubber suspensions got pulled so far apart that I worried they would break...
2. These pumps are not quiet, or at least, not dead silent. I tested these on an empty 40 breeder in my home office where I have another 40 breeder fully stocked with corals and fish. The noise from the gyres are very noticeable even at 30% strength. However to be fair, my home office is pretty quiet, only noise is from the water falling from the tank to the sump. The humming noise is definitely audible and after spending 30 minutes it even got me a little annoyed. I seriously thought about keeping them in the boxes and wait to use them for my next build which is going to be a 240 or 300 gallon. But the next day after seeing the detritus on the sand bed in my display tank I decided to give it shot and I am glad I did. Because I have so many equipments hooked up to my display, the noise from the gyres are not noticeable anymore. Of course having two kids at home helped... The loudest device is a Reef Octopus INT150 which ironically is also made by Coralvue. After installing the two gyres in my tank I tried to listen to the noise that comes from them and I had to put my ears within one feet from the pumps, thanks to the skimmer.... But I am glad it worked out.
3. These pumps are powerful! In a 5 foot tank I had to dial them down to 30% so my fish doesn't get blown away. 40% works but my clowns just can't keep up and even my tangs struggle to stay still. 50% would put water on my floor and I didn't even try pulsing mode. I have been observing my tank all day and I can now say there is no dead spot in my tank anymore. Every inch of sand gets moved from time to time and the water was very cloudy for the first hour or so after the pumps were turned on.
4. The controller took me a while to figure out but it was mainly because I did it the wrong way: I tried to program the controller without the pumps hooked up. No matter what settings I used the display always showed that both pump A and B went off 3 seconds after I saved my settings. Eventually I decided to connect the pumps to see what happens and the program started to run magically as soon as I connected the pumps to it.
5. The feeding mode does not work properly and there were a few people having this same issue and asked on Coralvue support website. Basically the controller does not always go back to run the preset programs after the feeding time is up. Luckily, Coralvue support was very helpful and got back to me within a day and sent me a firmware update file and instructions about how to do it. You will need a Micro SD card to install the update but it is pretty straight forward.
Final thought, this is an awesome pump but does bring a problem for me: now there is circular water flow in the tank just as shown in youtube videos and the flow at the bottom of the tank is also quite strong and there are basically no dead spots in the tank which is great. But some corals actually prefer low flow and would not fully open at the rate created by the gyres. I have a few Ricordeas that almost died due to the relatively strong flow and recovered only after I moved them to an almost dead spot with medium light. So now I have to keep them in my 40 breeder and not dare to move them into the display tank. Maybe I have to rework my aquascape to create a shelter for these softies.
Overall I am quite happy with the purchase. I know they are not cheap but at $400 for a pair and a controller, I feel I am getting more and better flow than traditional round shaped powerheads.
1. The package is solid and everything was over protected. Cardboard box then foam then a metal box then you have more foam inside of it and finally you get to see your pump. Everything in the box is a quite hefty and makes me feel they are good quality. The magnets are super strong and I know the package says use caution but I still managed to clamp my finger in between and I got say it hurts... Also, the pump comes with the dry and wet side magnets stuck together and while trying to break them apart, the rubber suspensions got pulled so far apart that I worried they would break...
2. These pumps are not quiet, or at least, not dead silent. I tested these on an empty 40 breeder in my home office where I have another 40 breeder fully stocked with corals and fish. The noise from the gyres are very noticeable even at 30% strength. However to be fair, my home office is pretty quiet, only noise is from the water falling from the tank to the sump. The humming noise is definitely audible and after spending 30 minutes it even got me a little annoyed. I seriously thought about keeping them in the boxes and wait to use them for my next build which is going to be a 240 or 300 gallon. But the next day after seeing the detritus on the sand bed in my display tank I decided to give it shot and I am glad I did. Because I have so many equipments hooked up to my display, the noise from the gyres are not noticeable anymore. Of course having two kids at home helped... The loudest device is a Reef Octopus INT150 which ironically is also made by Coralvue. After installing the two gyres in my tank I tried to listen to the noise that comes from them and I had to put my ears within one feet from the pumps, thanks to the skimmer.... But I am glad it worked out.
3. These pumps are powerful! In a 5 foot tank I had to dial them down to 30% so my fish doesn't get blown away. 40% works but my clowns just can't keep up and even my tangs struggle to stay still. 50% would put water on my floor and I didn't even try pulsing mode. I have been observing my tank all day and I can now say there is no dead spot in my tank anymore. Every inch of sand gets moved from time to time and the water was very cloudy for the first hour or so after the pumps were turned on.
4. The controller took me a while to figure out but it was mainly because I did it the wrong way: I tried to program the controller without the pumps hooked up. No matter what settings I used the display always showed that both pump A and B went off 3 seconds after I saved my settings. Eventually I decided to connect the pumps to see what happens and the program started to run magically as soon as I connected the pumps to it.
5. The feeding mode does not work properly and there were a few people having this same issue and asked on Coralvue support website. Basically the controller does not always go back to run the preset programs after the feeding time is up. Luckily, Coralvue support was very helpful and got back to me within a day and sent me a firmware update file and instructions about how to do it. You will need a Micro SD card to install the update but it is pretty straight forward.
Final thought, this is an awesome pump but does bring a problem for me: now there is circular water flow in the tank just as shown in youtube videos and the flow at the bottom of the tank is also quite strong and there are basically no dead spots in the tank which is great. But some corals actually prefer low flow and would not fully open at the rate created by the gyres. I have a few Ricordeas that almost died due to the relatively strong flow and recovered only after I moved them to an almost dead spot with medium light. So now I have to keep them in my 40 breeder and not dare to move them into the display tank. Maybe I have to rework my aquascape to create a shelter for these softies.
Overall I am quite happy with the purchase. I know they are not cheap but at $400 for a pair and a controller, I feel I am getting more and better flow than traditional round shaped powerheads.
