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Display tank powerheads

J

junk

Is everyone here really using Koralias for their intank powerheads? Seems like there are really 3 choices out there - Koralia (less $, good quality, sticks out far), Vortech (most $, good quality, loud vibrations and can't swivel), or Tunze (admit I know nothing about other than they cost almost as much as vortechs and their numbering system confuses the heck out of me).

So what are folks here using?

My tank will be a 120g that is in the process of being setup. 4' long. Right now will be using cheap used powerheads I picked up till I find a good deal somewhere on something. :-[
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Ok - let me help with the numbering system.

"gen 1" (my term - i guess you could just say these are discontinued)
tunze 6000 - low power draw, bulky powerhead, small hockey puck motor
tunze 6100 - same thing as above but with BIG hockey puck motor
tunze 6101 - same thing as above but they did away with the hocky pucks and replaced with a new laptop-like power plug

"gen 2"
Tunze 6105 - new model that is sleeker - same power/water flow as 6100/6101.

If i were to do it again - i'd consider a pair of 6105s with a 7095 multicontroller. The 7096 multicontroller is cheaper but has not been released yet.

Tunze are out of sight pricey but pretty solidly built. If the US economy ever comes back and the US dollar strengthens - then the tunze products might drop in price due to the currency exchange.

I can't afford a german luxury car but I guess I will splurge on the german powerhead. LOL.


EDIT: I forgot to mention - if you go the "used" route - try and ensure the pumps are BLACK - not brown. If they are brown you are really getting some OLD stuff.

One last negative - you have to purchase the magnets separately. This adds $$ to the overall cost. Also those magnets are finger crushers...be very careful when using them (ow!).
 
Xavier613

Xavier613

For my in tank powerheads i have run koralia's (on my 29g) which were pretty decent but not too random, Tunze's on my 70 tech tank up until today, which were very nice, i liked the dispersion of the flow and how powerful they were, and now a Vortech along w/ a tunze 6045 on the opposite side.
When i plugged in the vortech and set it up, i could see every bit of the tank getting flow throughout, kicking up a lot of shtuff that had settled. I find the flow is a lot more "all over" than with the tunzes. they had a lot of dead spots, which i definitly do not have now.
 
D

ds4x4

I use the Koralias for now. I have a single Magnum 6 and it's a beast in size and power. That thing can blow holes in the sand on the other side of the tank (6ft) all the way to the bottom glass
 
J

junk

Just thought I’d post back up. I decided to go with 2 EcoTech MP40w with a battery backup hooked up to one of them. I stumbled upon a guy on ManhattanReefs that sold me the setup cheap although everything was new in box.

Took out the first one, hooked up it. Plugged it in to see that it was dead. ??? Plugged in the second and it worked fine. So to get the tank cycle started, I’m using 1 of the MP40w and one used Koralia 4 that I got as a backup. Well, after one quick call to EcoTech they told me to check the power supply for the dead unit. Sure as spiking nitrates that was the problem. The green led on the power supply, which I never noticed was there, was not on. So they immediately dropped another in the express ship bucket to me and I should have it tomorrow (in one day : insert gold star here lol : ). So I expect to run both of them, on opposing ends of the tank, both as masters and both on reefcrest mode hoping to get good random flow. Right now the 1 I have in there is set about ½ up and the second will likely be the same. So in my 120, that should get me about 2,000-2,500gph of flow not counting the return pump I have which will be the Ehiem 1260 which will get around 600gph.

So I’m very pleased with the EcoTech customer support. Two notes; one is the vibrations from the units were bad until I got the pin spacer to the correct setting, now it’s barely noticeable (although it’s loud if up all the way), and the second is I stalled the vortech last night when I ran my new heavy duty strength magnetic cleaner by it. I guess the two magnets shouldn’t be so close together.

Anyway, just wanted to post my feedback in case anyone is considering them.
 
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