Jebao RW-8 review:
First of all, here are some other items I've had to compare it to...
Tunze 6025's w/ all the mods, Ecotech MP40s, Jebao WP40.
Tank Setup: 150g (48x24x30 tall) The tank has very open rock-work with a built in pond foam and rock scape with a few ledges and foam bottom (ie bare bottom but looks like it is rock) Top is completely open with two radion LED's hanging from the ceiling.
Background: I had been running 2 Ecotech MP40s on one side (on 6in from top and 1 6in from bottom) with a WP40 on the far side. I decided to get these RW8s because my 2 MP40's were just too loud for the Sig Other and I knew if I wanted to keep the tank I would have to keep her happy.
I had a WP40 already, but after a few years it was having difficulty starting so any of the wave functions were out of the question. At first I put two modded Tunze nanostreams on the side where the MP40's were, but that just wasn't enough flow (2 6025's and an old WP40).
Main Review:
Design - The RW8's arrived and I put them on opposite sides of the tank, and left one 6025 aimed straight down to blow out this one spot and behind a rock where most of my detritus seemed to settle. First thing I noticed was that the RW-8 has a good mount, but it cant quite match the adjustability of the tunze and WP-40. It only pivots up and down. If I want to aim it towards the back of the tank I have to change the axis of the mount and then the cord sticks out at odd angles. The pumps are WAY smaller than the old WP40... and are about the same size as a Tunze NanoStream.
Flow: Flow is about as wide as the bigger WP40 and just as strong, if not a bit stronger. Flow is WAY more than the modded nano streams and probably comparable to the Eco MP40, but you can adjust the direction which you cant on the ecotech. That allowed me to aim them down and slightly back to eliminate most dead spots. You should have seen all the nasty CRUD these things kicked up when I turned them on. I couldn't even see into the tank it was so nasty. It took a few hours to clear up a little, and a day or more to get back to clear. To me, this means that the pumps were doing a good job of keeping all the crud in suspension and not letting it just settle to another dead spot.
Initial problem: These things were LOUD. One of them made a high pitch whining sound and the other was just as loud as the MP40 it was replacing. I thought I had just wasted $120.
Then I remembered that the WP40 was pretty loud when I got it, so I decided to just leave them up and hope they would settle in. Well it worked... Within about 48 hours the pumps are just about silent. I would put them on par, or slightly below the sound of the fans on my Radion. I'm running them in "ELSE" mode because I don't like the sound of waves on the overflow. Like I said, the tank is in our familyroom near the TV and the room is also open to the kitchen so we spend most of our time in there. My SO is very noise sensitive... Now that the pumps have settled in, they are nearly silent though. Flow is awesome in a deep 150g tank. Just wish there was a wave option that would go on for 2 minutes and off for two so I could set up the pumps to be slightly off cycle. One on for a minute, both on for a minute, the other on for a minute, both off for a minute. maybe an after market wave maker would work though.