flat broke
New member
I just wanted to post up some experience with the Sure Flow kit. I picked one up over the weekend, and a new MJ900 to go with it. I got the 900 because of the reported problems with the 1200s, and because in theory, it will put out the same GPH at less wattage than the 1200 (with the stock prop). I have the unit mounted using one of their magnets from a family member's old seio, and it's controled by my ACjr to be on for 20, off for 5. With the shroud positioned with the non-vented side up.
The good - The thing moves some water!. The ball and socket mounting is nice, and has some potential. I'm running the top of the shroud 2.625" below the water's surface and have only seen the water vortex 1x in the past few days. The pump is no more noisy than a Tunze 6025, and clatters a little less on startup. Sometimes startup is dead silent.
The Bad - I wish these were out when I set my tank up in February
( I know the DIY version was, but that's a different story) With the setup mounted with the pump below the ball joint, you can't articulate much downward angle. And with the ball joint below the pump, the footprint is larger and asthetically not as pleasing. I have a workaround for that which I'll get some pics of in a couple of days.
Overall, I'm really stoked on these, and if you wanted to take the time and hit up the MJ with some Krylon Fusion, you'd have a nice polished looking pump that performs well and doesn't detract too much from the asthetics of the tank.
I'm actually going to get a second kit, and use these two pumps in place of the ocean motions that was directing flow in my 60G cube. 2 of these will put out approx 3200GPH when on together(not counting my return), and since I'll stagger the timmers, I'll have periods with one or the other, both, and another very short window with neither of the pumps run. Very nice flexibility for the $$.
As far as solving the articulation problem, since I'm replacing overhead returns from my OM, I'm going to put the rear two bulkheads to work. I'll Weldon16 a close nipple to the back of the ball and socket bracket where the magnet would usually slide over. Then thread the close nipple up into the bulkhead. This will reduce the "footprint" of the pump in the tank a little (because basically just the socket from the ball and socket mount will be seen in the water column), and allow much better flexibilty in terms of aiming the pump. If people who don't have overhead returns wanted to do the same, you could affix a bracket from the back of your stand that hung over the tank close to the aters surface, then do something similar. Once I get the other kit in, and take down my Ocean Motion, I'll post a pic.
I did have a question for Dnguyen and Northbay Reefer since one has good experience with the pumps, and the other with the "high flow" prop setup from Algae Free. Will the "high flow" prop be able to be spun by a MJ900? I don't really see needing more flow in my tank, but it'd be cool to know I could try it if I wanted.
In case any of the Tunzephilles are wondering, I was orriginally going to go with modded 6025s. Asthetically speaking the pumps blow the Koralias away, and still look better than the MJmod variants. Buuuut, after seeing the sure flow kit in person and realizing I could mount it overhead in my setup and have a similar footprint; the allure of better flow, easily and cheaply replaceable powerheads, and the MJs proven tollerance of start/stop controllers won out.
Chris
The good - The thing moves some water!. The ball and socket mounting is nice, and has some potential. I'm running the top of the shroud 2.625" below the water's surface and have only seen the water vortex 1x in the past few days. The pump is no more noisy than a Tunze 6025, and clatters a little less on startup. Sometimes startup is dead silent.
The Bad - I wish these were out when I set my tank up in February
( I know the DIY version was, but that's a different story) With the setup mounted with the pump below the ball joint, you can't articulate much downward angle. And with the ball joint below the pump, the footprint is larger and asthetically not as pleasing. I have a workaround for that which I'll get some pics of in a couple of days.Overall, I'm really stoked on these, and if you wanted to take the time and hit up the MJ with some Krylon Fusion, you'd have a nice polished looking pump that performs well and doesn't detract too much from the asthetics of the tank.
I'm actually going to get a second kit, and use these two pumps in place of the ocean motions that was directing flow in my 60G cube. 2 of these will put out approx 3200GPH when on together(not counting my return), and since I'll stagger the timmers, I'll have periods with one or the other, both, and another very short window with neither of the pumps run. Very nice flexibility for the $$.
As far as solving the articulation problem, since I'm replacing overhead returns from my OM, I'm going to put the rear two bulkheads to work. I'll Weldon16 a close nipple to the back of the ball and socket bracket where the magnet would usually slide over. Then thread the close nipple up into the bulkhead. This will reduce the "footprint" of the pump in the tank a little (because basically just the socket from the ball and socket mount will be seen in the water column), and allow much better flexibilty in terms of aiming the pump. If people who don't have overhead returns wanted to do the same, you could affix a bracket from the back of your stand that hung over the tank close to the aters surface, then do something similar. Once I get the other kit in, and take down my Ocean Motion, I'll post a pic.
I did have a question for Dnguyen and Northbay Reefer since one has good experience with the pumps, and the other with the "high flow" prop setup from Algae Free. Will the "high flow" prop be able to be spun by a MJ900? I don't really see needing more flow in my tank, but it'd be cool to know I could try it if I wanted.
In case any of the Tunzephilles are wondering, I was orriginally going to go with modded 6025s. Asthetically speaking the pumps blow the Koralias away, and still look better than the MJmod variants. Buuuut, after seeing the sure flow kit in person and realizing I could mount it overhead in my setup and have a similar footprint; the allure of better flow, easily and cheaply replaceable powerheads, and the MJs proven tollerance of start/stop controllers won out.
Chris
