external pump recommendations

[A Canfield]

I'm getting ready to construct a closed loop for my 55.
Still trying to decide which pump(external) to go with.
Of course I want it to be quiet, reliable, and somewhat affordable.
Anyone have suggestions, opinions.........
Thanks

 

[sumyungviet]

i've used the quiet one pump as a return, its pretty cheap and definitely quite. It would probably work great as a closed loop also. Best deal I found was on liveaquaria.com

 

[eben]

quiet ones have always crapped out on me...I'd hunt for a used Panworld or iwaki...quiet and super efficient.

 

[A Canfield]

I've been kind of leaning towards a Iwaki. I've heard only good things about them. Seen some on EBAY..not too pricey.
Thanks for answering..always nice to get as many opinions as you can!

 

[dots]

That your on the subject......Marine Depot and most others seem to make a big deal about the Iwaki pumps using a Japanese or American motor.........is there that big of a difference or just a perception? Is there some documentation of the failure/quality rates of one vs the other?

 

[A Canfield]

oh yeah.............I've read that too. The Japanese motor is suppose to be superior to the American made one. Don't know where that come from...............?

 

[funman1]

Yep I 'm in the market for a beter return pump too, the quite one that Larry used I guess only works for him
I have a problem with it restarting after I shut it off for feeding.
Once I go fully auto with the controller I need to know it will come back on it's own and not have to babysit it.

I was leaning towards the Iwaki too, and had the exact same question, what the diif in motors. Heat?, Longer lasting??

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

Sequence Reef-flo Dart, Gen-x (I have this.. they still make these?), the coralife external pumps are good believe it or not, iwaki (I've never had a problem with american motors).

 

[pbetito]

Ryan (Palileo) has a nice Iwaki 55 rlt that he was looking to possibly upgrade. Would be perfect for your system. Might want to send him a p.m.

 

[gabe3d]

The Coralife uses the same motor as the Panworld but with a red shell, which are really good pumps. I've used a one myself, but not the quietest pump out there (100px model). I've also used a few iwakis 70 and 40, never broke but will never buy one again b/c of noise. If i had a fish room then i might buy one again. I'm currently using a QuietOne 4000hh as my skimmer feed and it is one of the quietest pump i've ever ran. I thought it would have been a trait across the board for the QuietOne pump, so i bought a 6000 to find that it is quite noisy. Though I've never tried them, people are praising the Aquamedic Oceanrunners which are very comparable to the QuietOnes but more effecient. If you need even more flow then you can always go to Reeflo, i'm currently running a Dart and it is very quiet and reliable. Reeflo also makes the Snapper which is a step down from the Dart.

 

[davidenos]

If your on a budget, the quiet ones are ok. As others have pointed out there are potential restart issues if not regularly mantained. I have found calcium buildup on the steel shaft that needs to be completley removed for "reliable" operation. . For me that is about 6months before I need to dissasemble and do a thourough cleaning. So whichever pump you decide on, you should include in your closed loop design a way to make the pump easily removeable for servicing.

 

[fishsoldseprtly]

I say go with the Reeflo Snapper.

 

[A Canfield]

whew......
I'm now totally confused
Seriously.........THANKYOU, once again for all the info. I'm definitely a newbie and am just trying to soak in as much info on as many SW subjects as I can and this site has been great!
Anyone out there have a pump theywant to sell and think might work for me, send along a pm and maybe we can work something out...............(I'll contact Ryan too)

 

[chriscolt]

Reeflo makes a fantastic pump, very energy efficient for the power it puts out and is adjustable on the output side (using an external valve) the amazing thing is if you lower the flow on the output using an external valve, the pump uses less electricity - the pumps are huge (I just installed my new Barracuda for my 180 gallon) very well made, much bigger than I thought, not that noisy if insulated from the floor (padding or something) - terrific pump

Chris