I was fortunate enough to win this pump right here on R2R last month. Now that I've got it going and gotten the hang of it I'll post my thoughts. I've used everything from maxi-jets and later maxijet mods to tunze, to hydor, to ecotech's to jebaos and probably a few others. Still haven't tried a gyre style pump though. This is the first time I've had a chance to play with new powerhead technology since I got 1st gen MP40's which unfortunately stopped working a long time ago.
The first thing I did before setting it up was take it apart. I read and watched a few reviews and it seems like most neglect this when it's an important part. While this is AI's first pump I did not really have any doubts that it would perform. I was curious how much of a pain it would be to clean. I've had powerheads last as long as 10 years. In the end they will all fail but maintaining them will extend their lifespan. It's also going into a newly setup tank that has some hair algae issues. Even if it was going into an established tank it would quickly be coraline covered as well. You just have to turn it one way to open and the reverse to seal it. There is a little hook that snaps it shut. Very easy to do. Impeller comes out real easy as well. Cleaning shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Yes you can swap wet sides faster but even if you had the extra one you still need to clean it.
I am impressed with how thin the pump is. The flow is very good and wide but not crazy powerful. The other main powerhead I'm using is a coralbox qp 16 It is considerably bulkier but 25% more powerful. The fact that you can only adjust the pump slightly on the magnet is not a big deal given that it has such a wide flow pattern and this no doubt keeps the profile thin. I don't have any mp10's anymore but that seems to be the pump most people compare the Nero 5 to. To me it seems more like the long forgotten MP20 which of course was just a slowed down 40, but this is actually physically smaller then a 40 while offering more flow then an MP10 but less than a MP40. I would choose the Nero 5 over an mp10 in most cases the exception being if I wanted to mount it on the back of the tank.
Bluetooth is super easy to setup and you can program the pump in just a minute or 2. I'm not really that into aquarium gadgets. At least not in the sense that I would pay extra for them. If it works and it's easy to use that's good enough for me. I use several jebao pumps and they work fine. This pump though it was legitimately fun to setup. You may not need a 24hr flow pattern but it's still fun to make one. Also it is nice that on screen it tells you the current gph the pump is putting out.
I got this pump for free and while I was intrigued with the design I probably wouldn't have bought one just based on the price. I don't think it's over price but I do think you are paying for features you want vs need. Now that I've used one I am considering buying another to pair it with. The low profile, wide flow and fun factor, plus the fact it's easy to clean are what I like. I probably would not recommend this powerhead for more then a 4 foot tank. I had the option of sticking it on my 5 foot main display but thought it was better suited for my 3x2 tank which to be fair is going to be sps dominate so it will have a higher flow rate then my 5 foot tank. It's too early to say how long this will last but I would expect at least 5 years out of it. Is it better then the 3 or 4 coral box / jebaos you can get for the same price? No, but 1 to 1 it certainly is better, the deciding factor is really just about how much you want to spend and if you are willing to pay for extra features you don't really need but are certainly appealing.
The last picture is the tank. Yes it's mess, you can see how much stuff was stirred up by adding the nero 5. In the back there is a really old korilia pump and the magnet you mount the powerhead to sticks out as much as the nero 5 does in total. The other pump is a QP-16. Yes the QP is more powerful but it's also way bigger.
The first thing I did before setting it up was take it apart. I read and watched a few reviews and it seems like most neglect this when it's an important part. While this is AI's first pump I did not really have any doubts that it would perform. I was curious how much of a pain it would be to clean. I've had powerheads last as long as 10 years. In the end they will all fail but maintaining them will extend their lifespan. It's also going into a newly setup tank that has some hair algae issues. Even if it was going into an established tank it would quickly be coraline covered as well. You just have to turn it one way to open and the reverse to seal it. There is a little hook that snaps it shut. Very easy to do. Impeller comes out real easy as well. Cleaning shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Yes you can swap wet sides faster but even if you had the extra one you still need to clean it.
I am impressed with how thin the pump is. The flow is very good and wide but not crazy powerful. The other main powerhead I'm using is a coralbox qp 16 It is considerably bulkier but 25% more powerful. The fact that you can only adjust the pump slightly on the magnet is not a big deal given that it has such a wide flow pattern and this no doubt keeps the profile thin. I don't have any mp10's anymore but that seems to be the pump most people compare the Nero 5 to. To me it seems more like the long forgotten MP20 which of course was just a slowed down 40, but this is actually physically smaller then a 40 while offering more flow then an MP10 but less than a MP40. I would choose the Nero 5 over an mp10 in most cases the exception being if I wanted to mount it on the back of the tank.
Bluetooth is super easy to setup and you can program the pump in just a minute or 2. I'm not really that into aquarium gadgets. At least not in the sense that I would pay extra for them. If it works and it's easy to use that's good enough for me. I use several jebao pumps and they work fine. This pump though it was legitimately fun to setup. You may not need a 24hr flow pattern but it's still fun to make one. Also it is nice that on screen it tells you the current gph the pump is putting out.
I got this pump for free and while I was intrigued with the design I probably wouldn't have bought one just based on the price. I don't think it's over price but I do think you are paying for features you want vs need. Now that I've used one I am considering buying another to pair it with. The low profile, wide flow and fun factor, plus the fact it's easy to clean are what I like. I probably would not recommend this powerhead for more then a 4 foot tank. I had the option of sticking it on my 5 foot main display but thought it was better suited for my 3x2 tank which to be fair is going to be sps dominate so it will have a higher flow rate then my 5 foot tank. It's too early to say how long this will last but I would expect at least 5 years out of it. Is it better then the 3 or 4 coral box / jebaos you can get for the same price? No, but 1 to 1 it certainly is better, the deciding factor is really just about how much you want to spend and if you are willing to pay for extra features you don't really need but are certainly appealing.
The last picture is the tank. Yes it's mess, you can see how much stuff was stirred up by adding the nero 5. In the back there is a really old korilia pump and the magnet you mount the powerhead to sticks out as much as the nero 5 does in total. The other pump is a QP-16. Yes the QP is more powerful but it's also way bigger.
I wish I could get one of these for free to see what the actual difference is between these two extremely similar pumps.
