D.i.y. Maxi-jet Mods Are Worth It!!

akrimmel

akrimmel

In Memoriam
i did a mod to my maxi-jet 1200 and let me tell you: it puts out a nice wide flow patern as opposed to the narrow stream prior to the mod that i did. i got the kit from http://www.mjmods.com/
IT ONLY TOOK ABOUT 10-15 MIN. with pratice you could do it in 5min. it says that it takes it from 295/gph to around 1600+/gph. it is worth the $25$ for the kit if you want more flow at a cheap price as we all cant afford the TUNZE'S and farmer toys!!!
 
Come on man your late to the party :)

The flow is uped by quite a bit. I have a Tunze 6060 on one side and a Modded MJ on the other. The modded mj does not quite hit the rate of the Tunze, but it is close. Definitly worth the time, money, and effort. There is also a huge thread running around the DIY forum.
 
I have two of them and all I did was cut down the exhaust as far as I could... Id that the same mod or is there something better I can do?
 
yea, I actually read one the site... So if I already did the wavemaker mod by cutting the exhaust off can I still do this one to?
 
when you do this you dont need the old intake anymore or the exhaust--is this where the water flows out of? if that is what you are calling the exhaust you dont need that any more either. i went from about a foot or less where i could feel the flow in fron of the pump and know i can feel ir from 3 feet away and the one maxi i had to mod for the 75rr creates almost a whirlpool effect to where there are no more dead spots due to the location i put it in.
 
ahh cool, so I have a mag 12 return in my 120 gallon so if I did this mod on my 2 maxi 1200's would that be to much flow or what?
 
No, I have 2 Seio 1500's in my 120, so that's 3,000 gph. I believe these mods are supposed to make the MJ 1200's to 2,000 gph, so not a huge amount more, should be fine. I hope you do it and report back here, because if they do well, I'll probably look at this mod option when it comes time to replace my seios.
 
Just to clarify, this thread is about turing a MaxiJet 1200 into a "stream" like pump (similar to the Seio's or Tunze's).

There is another MJ mod, made famous by Melve's (spelling?) Reef website. This other option is to saw off the return tube (exhaust) to make a rectangular hole instead of having the tube comming off. Additionally you drill 6 or so small holes in the base plate around the intake. When hooked to a wavemaker this causes the flow to change left to right, as well as increasing the total ammount of flow and spreading it out.

I did this 2nd option on my four MaxiJet's since I already purchased 2 of the Tunze 6000 Stream pumps. Between all the powerheads I have a good ammount of flow :)
 
Well I think it depends on your goal for the power head...

If you want a stream pump for the sides of the tank, then the mod you referenced is great. It looks like you can just buy the parts you need instead of making them as in other DIY threads on RC trying to make a stream pump...

What about the reversing direction problem, have them come up with a propeller to fix that issue, or do you still have to unplug and replug the pump in order to get the prop spinning the correct way after a power outage? (keep in mind that the maxiet's reverse direction each time power is applied).

If your simply trying to increase the flow of your existing power heads, then Melev's mod does do that, along with the added benifit of changing the direction of the flow from left to right as power is turned off and on by a wavemaker (remember the maxijets impeller spin's clockwise then counterclockwise causing the change in the flow direction).

Regards
 
explain this??? wavemaker and maxi's?

also where can i find the DIY that melev did for the maxi mod he did?
 
If you take a Maxi Jet power head and plug it in, the impeller will spin either clockwise or counterclockwise. If you unplug it and then plug it back in, the impeller will now spin the opposite direction.

Thus if you put you maxi-jet on a wavemaker, the wavemaker is basically turning it off and on right? so each time the power cycles the motor spins the opposite direction... That's why DIY's had to remove the stream mod'd maxijet's from wavemakers, becase the propellers (note NOT an "IMpeller") you can get will only "push" water one direction... Think of it just like a boat, if your in FWD then the water is getting "pushed" out the back and you move forward (or in the case of your PH the water is moving tword the middle of your tank where you have the PH pointed). If you power off and on, now the motor is spinning in REV and now your sucking water from middle of the tank and blowing it out the sides of the modd'd PH....

LINK http://melevsreef.com/archives/2005_10_01_archive.html
(Scroll down to : Saturday, October 15, 2005 )

He even has a little video you can play showing how this mod works.


So basically what I'm saying is that if your using your MJ's on a wavemaker/timer, your going to be better served doing Melev's mod. If your just going to plug them into the wall one time, and you want a stream pump, then this mod you referenced is fine, provided that you monitor the powerhead after a power outage and unplug/plug if the prop is spinning the wrong way.
 
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