The dc pump advantage??

Paul B · Jun 10, 2015

I have been at this a very long time and have been badly shocked quite a few times. If you keep a powerhead long enough, the cord cracks near the motor and you gat 110 volts in the water. Usually that trips the circuit but not always. I have also had powerheads crack supplying power to the tank but that is not much of a concern any more as I think the newer ones have that down to a science. But that is not a big concern that would stop me from using line voltage powerheads. I just mentioned it because it was asked in this thread

ronnie · Jun 10, 2015

I'm happy with my RLSS R6i. It took a while to dial in, but it's 100 times quieter than my ASM G3 ever was.

hart24601 · Jun 10, 2015

I have not found a reason to switch to DC pumps with either my skimmer or return. It does not seem like they have much power use advantage and I honestly just would run the skimmer and return at the highest setting since both work great for me currently. I don't like having an extra controller to mount that realistically wont use and I have been hearing bad reports of some DC pumps when it comes to failure and performance drop over time. I normally shut off my skimmer and return once a month and have not been too worried about the start-up being hard on them. Just my take on the current crop, although I am guessing the high end DC pumps are pretty nice.

Fishphi784 · Jun 12, 2015

I am by no means an expert of physics or the theoretical explanation to support what I am about to say, but, I have a regal 200 EXT and I find that an approximate 50% motor speed produces optimal skimate. I have to assume that this product is dependent on my flow rate and drain outlet height/effective drain diameter. Although drain dynamics and flow rate can be controlled, air injection volume and dwell time are arguably the most important variable and are controllable (dwell time less so) in my setup; I can fine tune this with the DC system. So, the DC motor seems beneficial in that it is controllable and that, at such a relatively low speed, should outlast a smaller motor running at 100%. That being said, if I got a great deal on an AC skimmer, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase.