Return pumps

[Aqua Ultraviolet]

Of the two, the VarioS-8 or the Sicce SDC 9.0 fits your goal. The 6 is too small.


Rated flow is at zero head, so you’ll get noticeably less once you add vertical lift and plumbing. The VarioS-6 tops out around 1,585 gph on paper, so it would be near max just to reach your 1,500-1,600 target. The VarioS-8 (around 2,100 gph max) and the SDC 9.0 (around 2,400 gph max) can hit that range at roughly 70-75% with room to spare.

Two other DC options in that range are the EcoTech Vectra M2 and L2. They’re quiet and app-controllable, but they cost more and have a shorter warranty.

Before you buy, check the manufacturer’s head-loss chart against your actual lift, fittings, and pipe size. Also check the sump or return chamber depth, since the pumps are fairly large. A controller with a feed mode or battery backup is a good idea, because DC pumps don’t restart on their own after a power loss on some models.

If you run two returns, a ball valve on each lets you balance the flow.

 

[martin.a]

Wow. This thread is heating up .

I only want to say that I use Jebao DCP 10000 and I am very happy so far. I have it dialed down most of the time, all stays cool and silent. I am now planning to buy x2 of their GDP pumps for dual pump return.

 

[kboogie]

I can tell you why I run them

Likewise.

I recently swapped my broken Mag 36 for a Jebao DCP-20000.

I'll validate that it's quiet. I'd like to have a brand new Mag36 to compare decibel output...mine was loud but had a massively broken impeller, shaft and pump cover. I actually don't understand how that Mag was pumping water at all, at any decibel level. Heroic! LOL

The Jebao starts soft, but I don't personally see an advantage to that.

It's a return pump so there's no value to the speed control. (...or it's a detriment due to the added components and increased probability of failure.)

I don't see any advantage to AC vs DC power in the water. Class II insulation seems to work very well. ⧈ (<- Class II icon)

Power efficiency of DC is overrated...nobody (including Jebao) seems to count the watts used by the power supply brick that gets SUPER HOT. (But I do. The Jebao is more or less comparable to the Mag when you include the brick.)

To the Jebao's credit (and my surprise), the provided flow curve for the Jebao seems accurate, possibly even conservative. (Again I would like to have a brand new Mag 36 to compare head to head with this Jebao.)

The only reason I picked the Jebao (besides the comically low price) is that it's the only other available submersible pump that can put out flow like a Mag36 under the head pressure requirements I have. (And I wanted to try one.)

I won't have a problem switching back to AC return pumps when this Jebao kicks the bucket...but I do hope that's not for a while!!

I'm still curious about the OP's intent for only spec'ing DC pumps.

I recently was in a jam. I was in the middle of replacing a Marineland 300G that was ready to spring a leak. I replaced it with a second hand custom acrylic aquarium, 1” thick. I did all the work myself. The seller gave me a brand new never used ReeFlo Hammerhead Gold. It was in storage for five years never used from the original build that never happened. I decided I didn’t want to deal with the required annual replacement of bushings and volute seal so I opted to use an old MaxSpec Jump DC-8. It wasn’t enough flow and my wife was ticked by how over budget I was on the project. I decided to give Jebao a try because of the insanely low price and surprisingly good reviews. I got the MDP-20000 with the understanding I would upgrade to a Reef Octopus Varios 10 or 12 after my wife calmed down. I have to say I don’t see that upgrade in my future because the MDP-20000 has been very impressive. The flow numbers are grossly understated. The fine control is up to par with the highest end competitors. It is dead silent. My DT is in my home office and I sit five feet from it for 14 to 16 hours a day. It runs cool. My small complaints are the cheesy looking but effective app and the lower quality plastic used for the volute. I run it at 88% and with seven feet of head pressure this thing moves an unbelievable amount of water. IT move so much water I have no need for supplemental flow from wave makers. My DT is 84” x 36” x 26”.

I do have to give a shoutout to the people at ReeFlo who are the best! I sent them an email with a ton of questions. They answered all of them quickly and provided immediate responses to my follow ups. They are solid people who know what they are doing.

 

[W31Olds]

I have 6 or 7 Orlushy Pumps from Amazon. All DC, very inexpensive. Almost all have been in-service for 2-3 years and not one has failed. I also don't clean them often.

 

[exnisstech]

It's a return pump so there's no value to the speed control. (...or it's a detriment due to the added components and increased probability of failure.)

The thing I find useful running DC pumps is the ability to control flow via the pump. Being able to do that allows me to fine tune the overflows so they are silent. I suppose I could do it using just a valve but I find having a valve and a DC pump just works better for me. I ran a reeflo hammerhead when I had a basement sump and it was noisy. I now have all sumps in the stands so I need submersible pumps and after dealing with electric leaking hydor koralias powerheads years back I'm not a fan of having anything in the water running on 110v. I don't track power consumption but when I pulled the reeflo pump my electric bill dropped $50 a month which was huge since it's approx 17% of my total monthly bill.
I never turn my pumps off unless I'm working on something and the Jebao pumps have a feed button that works great for that if it's something quick otherwise I cut power. Having fish ranging from 8-9" down to 1.5" I want food blowing all over so every fish has an opportunity to get food. I figure it feeds corals also. If I fed with flow off I have a couple of fish that would get everything and the rest would eventually starve.

@W31Olds I wasn't going to bring up cleaning because I get tired of explaining to people why I don't clean my return pumps. I'm lazy and crawling around in the stand is a total PITA for me these days. If they're pumping I'm not cleaning. My jebao DCP was in service for 6 years and never cleaned. It's clean now and on a shelf awaiting future use.

 

[BeanAnimal]

If they're pumping I'm not cleaning. My jebao DCP was in service for 6 years and never cleaned. It's clean now and on a shelf awaiting future use.

That is how I deal with it.

12 or more years on a the ReeFlo Dart, no seals, o cleaning.

Closing in on two years for the RD3

5+ years on the ReefOcto NW pump on the external Regal.
2+ years in the Sicce 9.0
12-15 years on the large MaxiJet that feeds the skimmer. It sat idle for maybe 6 while I didn't run a skimmer. It's certainly been dying for 2-3 years, but until it goes belly up...

 

[CrewePD210]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/jump...=10504&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

 

[mcarroll]

I apologize for the long winded response, and if any of it came off rude as it was not intended to be.

All good!

As I said in the first place, I was just curious what your thoughts were on the decision. :)

That’s simply not correct. The DC motor itself is far more efficient than a synchronous or shaded-pole AC motor. Even with PSU losses, the platform is still more efficient by almost a factor of two. A low end PSU and a crap DC pump vs a quality PSC motor narrow the gap, but that says more about the Jebao than about DC. A hot brick doesn’t mean much on its own, either. A sealed brick losing 10–15% of 100W will feel super hot. It is still not “overrated.”

The claim just didn't turn out to be true in reality, with an actual pump, in real world conditions, measured with a power meter though. Unfortunately IMO this marketing gets a lot of customers!

The claimed power usage on the box is 165 watts. (Just above the pump intake in the photo)

So that's great marketing....a 165 watt pump that can do what would normally take a 200-300 watt pump to do. WOW!! Who wouldn't be excited by that? (Especially for that price!!! )

But does that claim really pan out?

While running, the pump claims on its controller readout to be using 181 watts.

Marketing has already let us down and I didn't do anything but turn it on! But wait there's more....

At the wall it is drawing over 206 watts.

In total a 20% discrepancy from the claim vs the reality.

The marketing of a "165 watt" pump vs the Mag 36 "256 watt" pump is more like a 50% claimed improvement though.

Actual power savings vs an AC equivalent is something more realistic like ~30%.

Literally nobody is getting that kind of flow for only 165 watts. Physics applies – go figure. ;)

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." ...still applies in 2026 too! :)

Wow. This thread is heating up .

Yes. But hopefully this is the end of it.

I remember being on an-older-forum-that-shall-remain-namelesss seeing threads go like this. The site had a well-earned reputation for it, in fact. (Some background for anyone curious who wasn't there. The link is just a google search.)

R2R established its good name by consciously, overtly being the opposite of that. That's what drew so many people here.

In fact, that's the reason I created my account here – so I don't much like it when it happens here.

I have 6 or 7 Orlushy Pumps from Amazon. All DC, very inexpensive. Almost all have been in-service for 2-3 years and not one has failed. I also don't clean them often.

That name! LOL

I have a big "WaterRebirth" brand pump that I use for some things. Yes, really – that's the name. LOL

(Not a DC pump, in case that matters to the humor. LOL)

The names of those chinese no-name companies just kill me.

 

[bryster]

The thing I find useful running DC pumps is the ability to control flow via the pump. Being able to do that allows me to fine tune the overflows so they are silent. I suppose I could do it using just a valve but I find having a valve and a DC pump just works better for me. I ran a reeflo hammerhead when I had a basement sump and it was noisy. I now have all sumps in the stands so I need submersible pumps and after dealing with electric leaking hydor koralias powerheads years back I'm not a fan of having anything in the water running on 110v. I don't track power consumption but when I pulled the reeflo pump my electric bill dropped $50 a month which was huge since it's approx 17% of my total monthly bill.
I never turn my pumps off unless I'm working on something and the Jebao pumps have a feed button that works great for that if it's something quick otherwise I cut power. Having fish ranging from 8-9" down to 1.5" I want food blowing all over so every fish has an opportunity to get food. I figure it feeds corals also. If I fed with flow off I have a couple of fish that would get everything and the rest would eventually starve.

@W31Olds I wasn't going to bring up cleaning because I get tired of explaining to people why I don't clean my return pumps. I'm lazy and crawling around in the stand is a total PITA for me these days. If they're pumping I'm not cleaning. My jebao DCP was in service for 6 years and never cleaned. It's clean now and on a shelf awaiting future use.

What model did you pull?

 

[bryster]

All good!

As I said in the first place, I was just curious what your thoughts were on the decision. :)


The claim just didn't turn out to be true in reality, with an actual pump, in real world conditions, measured with a power meter though. Unfortunately IMO this marketing gets a lot of customers!

The claimed power usage on the box is 165 watts. (Just above the pump intake in the photo)

So that's great marketing....a 165 watt pump that can do what would normally take a 200-300 watt pump to do. WOW!! Who wouldn't be excited by that? (Especially for that price!!! )

But does that claim really pan out?

While running, the pump claims on its controller readout to be using 181 watts.

Marketing has already let us down and I didn't do anything but turn it on! But wait there's more....

At the wall it is drawing over 206 watts.

In total a 20% discrepancy from the claim vs the reality.

The marketing of a "165 watt" pump vs the Mag 36 "256 watt" pump is more like a 50% claimed improvement though.

Actual power savings vs an AC equivalent is something more realistic like ~30%.

Literally nobody is getting that kind of flow for only 165 watts. Physics applies – go figure. ;)

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." ...still applies in 2026 too! :)


Yes. But hopefully this is the end of it.

I remember being on an-older-forum-that-shall-remain-namelesss seeing threads go like this. The site had a well-earned reputation for it, in fact. (Some background for anyone curious who wasn't there. The link is just a google search.)

R2R established its good name by consciously, overtly being the opposite of that. That's what drew so many people here.

In fact, that's the reason I created my account here – so I don't much like it when it happens here.


That name! LOL

I have a big "WaterRebirth" brand pump that I use for some things. Yes, really – that's the name. LOL

(Not a DC pump, in case that matters to the humor. LOL)

The names of those chinese no-name companies just kill me.

Thanks guys ive learned alot here

 

[exnisstech]

What model did you pull?

the one that I ran for 6 yrs was a dcp 3500
I have a dcp 15000 that's been running for 2.5 years. I recently moved out of a tank running a dcp 5000 for a bit over 3 years. Still running a dcp 5000 but new tank so new pump and the old one is cleaned and shelved for future use.

 

[BeanAnimal]

The claim just didn't turn out to be true in reality, with an actual pump, in real world conditions, measured with a power meter though. Unfortunately IMO this marketing gets a lot of customers!

Stop, you’re ignoring basic facts and what I posted. I said nothing about marketing and don’t care a whit about it. You are saying “physics applies” without citing any physics. It’s called argument by assertion: a dressed-up appeal to physics you can’t cite or apply to the argument.

Read what I posted. There is no opinion involved, and I also clearly pointed out that a low efficiency DC pump may not be more efficient than a high-efficiency AC pump in some cases. That speaks to the design of the particular DC pump and the AC pump it is being compared to.

So again, a quality DC pump is more efficient per gallon moved, and your own numbers show it. 206 watts at the wall against 181 at the controller means the brick is about 88% efficient. That’s hardly a loss that erases the efficiency advantage of a DC motor over a synchronous or shaded-pole AC motor.

You estimated about 30% savings over an AC equivalent, which contradicts your earlier claim that the Jebao is more or less comparable to the Mag. 30% is not “overrated.” It’s 30% less power.

But let’s go further. You also measured watts, not flow. Efficiency is gallons moved per watt. So let's use the published specs. The Mag 36 moves about 3,600 gph on 256 watts, and the Jebao moves about 5,280 gph on the 206 watts you measured. That’s roughly 14 versus 26 gallons per hour per watt, close to the factor of two I mentioned.

	Flow	Watts	gph per watt
Mag 36 (rated)	3,600 gph	256	~14
DCP-20000 (rated)	5,280 gph	165	~32
DCP-20000 (your wall reading)	5,280 gph	206	~26

Slowing the DCP-20000 down to 3,600 gph almost certainly improves the pump’s efficiency per gallon. The PSU becomes somewhat less efficient at lighter load, but its an SMPS and its losses shrink in actual watts along with everything else, so the system as a whole still comes out ahead.

Shall we?
165W curve (206W at the wall) against the Mag 36 (256W)

Head	Mag 36 gph	Mag gph/W	DCP-20000 gph	DCP gph/W	Ratio
1 ft	3,060	12.0	~4,910	23.8	2.0×
3 ft	2,775	10.8	~4,120	20.0	1.9×
5 ft	2,595	10.1	~3,490	16.9	1.7×
6 ft	2,480	9.7	~3,220	15.6	1.6×
8 ft	2,295	9.0	~2,690	13.1	1.5×
~10 ft	2,170	8.5	~2,270	11.0	1.3×

Where each Jebao curve crosses the Mag 36 curve (same flow, same head)

Jebao setting (wall watts)	Crossover	Flow	Mag gph/W	DCP gph/W	Ratio
100W (~125W)	~7 ft	~2,360 gph	9.2	18.9	2.0×
132W (~165W)	~9 ft	~2,210 gph	8.6	13.4	1.6×
165W (~206W)	~10 ft	~2,170 gph	8.5	10.5	1.2×

Using Jebao’s 165W curve with your 206 watt wall reading, and Danner’s published curve for the Mag 36, the DCP-20000 moves about 1.3 to 2 times the water per watt from 10 feet down to 1 foot of head. Turned down to match the Mag 36’s flow at 7 feet, it does it on roughly half the wall power. Your 30% figure is the worst case, at full power near 10 feet of head, real world the pump is nearly twice as efficient, runs at less than half the heat and will be more quiet and have far less of a chance of calcification.

Yes. But hopefully this is the end of it.

You can’t post “physics applies – go figure,” argue against marketing nobody raised, and then cast yourself as the voice of reason worried about threads turning into ReefCentral. You reframed factual points into something I never said, then countered them with your opinions. If you don’t like where this thread went, look at what moved it there. Implying the people disagreeing with you are the problem is not an answer to anything I posted. If you don’t “like it when it happens,” then stop being the catalyst.


“Hopefully this is the end of it” also reads as though you get to decide when the discussion is over, and that anyone who disagrees, let alone shows you to be wrong, is the problem. That is what is antithetical to the tone of this, or any community forum.

Your own numbers contradict your claims and remain unanswered. Your brick measured about 88% efficient, and you estimated about 30% savings over the AC pump. Neither supports DC efficiency being “overrated.” Your experience isn’t being questioned. Your statements contrary to facts are.