favorite jack-of-all-trades utility pump?

[psyrob]

Had my MJ1200 and MJ900 both die after 15 years of service, used them mainly for stirring saltwater, pumping water during water changes and emergencies when either a wavemaker or main pump failed.
What are your favorite pumps for these tasks and roles? And if I go with maxi jet again, which is the "real" maxi jet, maxi jet/marine land or cobalt?
Thanks

 

[dublo8]

Cobalt is supposedly the original. They are definitely built better than the marineland ones.
That's what I use for mixing water.

 

[billdogg]

I use a mag18 in my storage/mixing barrel, but I have to get the water up to the main floor in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[mal7887]

Love Maxi Jets, They are practically bullet proof. You get your moneys worth for sure with them.

 

[biecacka]

Mag series. Size depends on work I need it to do

Corey

 

[alton]

Your old maxi jets where Cobalt pumps made for Marineland. I found out when I went to replace my 1200 on my Urchin Skimmer, I bought a MArineland first and it made noise under pressure, so it was replaced by a Cobalt. Marineland is junk compared to Cobalt.

 

[yacn]

I use a RIO 1400 pump with 3/4" vinyl hose attached to it to mix saltwater in garbage cans, and then use the same pump to pump the saltwater into my sump during water changes. LFS sold and recommended this pump to me....the pump is 11+ yrs old and still ticking.....I'm guessing I paid $30-$40 for it

I've never used another pump so I have nothing else to compare to.

 

[jda]

Mag drive for me too. You can get a handful of screw-on nozzles and bits in the sprinkler section of the hardware store and the things just run and run.

 

[biecacka]

Yup! And if the stall, just bang em wig a screwdriver of something and they start right back up! Tough little suckers.

Corey

 

[psyrob]

I had forgotten about Rio's, might give those a try instead of Cobalt

 

[gamerunr]

Mags and Maxi Jets are hard to beat

 

[sfsuphysics]

Rios are great bang for your buck... until they stop working. They've always gotten to a point where they don't start very well and takes a lot of finagaling to get them working, however when they do work they're absolutely great.

That said, I like using Eheim or Mag for "utility pumps" with no particular feature set in mind.

 

[yacn]

Rios are great bang for your buck... until they stop working.

I've had my Rio for 11+ years and it is still working....

$30-$40 pump..not sure how long they need to last to be considered a good reliable pump. Everything will stop working eventually...