Please rate your pump, any break downs, never had a problem, ect..

[ReefJunkie]

I have heard horror stories about Rio pumps every scince I've got into the hobby of reef keeping. I have never owned a Rio so I'm lucky. Cuurently I have a Mag7, a Mag 5, two Marineland 660, two Marineland 550, and two MaxiJets. I have never had a problem with any of these of these pumps in my 1 1/2 of reef keeping (knock on wood....) So Iw ould rate these pumps good. The Mags have excellent output, the marinelands are fair on output, and the maxijets are the best small pump I have had.

Pleas tell us what pumps you run and have you had any problems with them...even minor problems. Do they preform well for your application? any complaints? Thanks for any info you can give

[wagnutz69]

I'm sure everybody on here has seen my horror story with RIO. I am replacing all other pumps that are RIO in all my tanks with maxi jets as I have those too, and haven't had any problems to date (knock on wood!!). I also have a Mag running my Titan Skimmer, but it is not submerged (outside). These are EXCELLENT pumps as they work in/out of water.


WAGZ

[Doug1]

I have avoided owning a Rio so far. I have an assortment of cheap Walmart pheads that have worked for 3 yrs at least though I dont use a wave strip or timer. My original 29g tank used a little penplax shark pump(thresher I think) that I paid about 20 bucks for, it ran the return on my 29 then the 55g and the 75 for a while till I replaced it with the Sen 900(a great pump but its huge, can run internal or external) I have used the sen as a mixing pump on my 29g tank I mixed SW in for a year and a half, no problems. AaSince it is now the 75 return pump I did get a spare impellor assembly for it( something I recommend whichever pump you choose) If I had to do it over I would get one of the mag drive pumps just because they are so much more compact

[Pegasis]

I have 7 Maxi-jets with no problems. My main pump is an Amp Master 3000 with no problem. I do have 2 Rios - 600RV and 800RV. I bought them specifically for their rejuvanation capabilities. I have them in my sump and connected to 2 overflows. I pray that they don't die (or worse) They are new so I hope I will get at least some life out of them. I just don't know of other pumps that are specifically designed for this use. If anyone knows of better pumps for overflows, I'd be interested.

Steven

[dark horge]

OTTO 600 -- 3 years and still running, with monthly cleanup, both of them. Taiwan made, 220V 60Hz.

AquaClear (or was it Hagen?) 501 -- lasted 17 months before seizing up and 'melting', even with monthly cleanup. US made, running off a 220V-110V 60Hz transformer. I'm guessing it was cumulative minor shorting in the coils.

Don't even ask me about those Rio 1500's I got for free.

horge

[naser]

i would like to know why people say rio's burn up and release oil in there tanks...they are oil free. sealed pretty well..i mean take one apart. i have had one rio 600 burn up in a year and a half. thats cause it fell into the gravel and sucked it up. everyone i know has them and had them for 3 or more years. oh and they do have ul listed rio's out too.

[bill-e]

naser,
I believe only the 2500 has been reported to leach something into the water, the other models just short out ant trip the breaker. And as for UL listing, I believe the only change is the power cord.(same for maxijets)

I rum Maxijets, mag 7, and Sen 700

[Doug1]

Oops forgot the Hagen 802 powering the skimmer, its lucky to see maint every 6 months

[dlemisch]

I have an Iwaki WMD40 powering my returns. It appears to work great. Had a Rio 2500 burn out recently and spill some sort of toxin into the tank. Whether it was oil or pcb's or some other noxious substance I don't know. I too read that they're oil free but there's something in them that comes out when they seize up. Good luck.

[gpohly]

Saw on the news last night that a fire did $2 million damage to an office building here - trace to a fire that started in an aquarium pump that burned up. Wonder what type it was...

[Salt-Reefer]

Hi All!

Just thought I would put my 2 cents in...
I have ran a few differnt pumps some being RIOS I have ran fromm the smallest one to the 2500 never had a problem with any of them, but I did change out my return pump a 2500 for a SEN900(which is a great pump)on my old tank. On my new tank I run 2 Maxi-jet 1200(Great pumps) and for return I run a Dolphin 1200T(Cant even hear it running!). On my FO only tank I run 3 penguin 800(I think) and 2 maxi-jet1200, the penguins are being replaced with maxi-jets there smaller pumps and much better in my opinion. Anyways thats it JMO.

[gregt]

naser,

From what I've heard they don't release an oil, they heat up until the plastic melts and creates a "liquid plastic" substance that people refer to as "nasty smelling oil".

HTH


Oh, and BTW, I've been running a Little Giant MD-2 for 7 years 24-7-365 with almost no maintenance, and several Maxijets and a Hagen 802 for over 5 years, minimal maintenance and have never had one seize or fail in any way.

[ 02-27-2001: Message edited by: gregt ]

[Techy-Mechy]

The pumps which I am most familiar with include:

Quiet One - I think that there must be significant quality variation in these pumps. I've had ones that lasted in excess of 6 years and I've had ones that died in about1 1/2 years. I believe that the seals begin to leak and the pot metal casing will corrode and burst. The pumps are very quiet, although they put lots of heat into the tank and the reliability is, in my estimation, fair to poor.

Hagen 402's: I have these pumps connected to my wave maker. This probably isn't the best way to use these pumps, and their impeller assys need to be replaced about every 2 years. Other than that, I'm very happy with these pumps

Hagen 301's: I've used these pumps in saltwater and freshwater applications, both in steady state operation and with a wave maker. I think that they are just fine pumps.