Buying Guide - Aquarium Electrics

[henward]

(Maybe this can be sticky'd)

I think there are many beginners out there looking for gear for their aquariums.

I am writing this myself - as recently I have done extensive work to reduce the costs of my hobby but more so to make it more efficient. That is key.

Bang for your buck without sacrificing efficiency – or making things more efficient. This will cover Filters and pumps. More so – Power consumpsion vs price vs performance.

I have found in the last few months, I have been looking at many options in the market. Filters and Pumps for sumps and internal flow is key to most if not all tanks. We all must use them.

Filters:

When looking at a filter, do not just look at the turnover. The way filters are measured is not turnover but capacity. For example, good value for money for large tanks are AQUA ONE NAUTILUS – specs below

For aquariums: 400 to 700 litres

Max. flow rate: 2700lph

Max. head height: 2.0mt

Filter volume: 22lt

Wattage: 42w

Low wattage is good, but if you look at the turn over vs rating for aquariums, you will see that its only up to 700L. Sure you can probably push that to 900L for a moderately to lightly stocked tank ( this is usually the formula you go by when they calculate capacity)

The turn over vs capacity ratio is actually a large gap even though you save money first hand, You have to look at capacity.

FLUVAL FX5 –

230-240V, 50 Hz

- 48 W

- 2300 L/H (607 U.S. Gal./H)

- For aquariums up to 1500 L (400 U.S. Gal.)

The FX5 has only 6 more watts of consumption, it has less turnover but a much higher capacity. The design is much better. More efficient.

These 2 filters are the only one I will feature. Eheim is top of the line in terms of brand, reputation and reliability. But really – the capacity vs cost is not very cost effective. I like eheims but the cost of an eheim filter that is the same performance has a fx5 is almost double, and the capacity is not anywhere near double.

When buying a filter, always watch out for the TURNOVER vs CAPACITY.

This comes through a well engineered filter. Water direction in the canister itself. This is how the filter is designed so water flow is directed to the right places, how the fitting fits well so the water has no leakage and goes where it is supposed to go. Chinese rip offs I find have gaps while premium products like FX5 and Eheims are perfectly manufactured – everything just fits how it should. Rubber o-rings, trays, clips, lids, hoses all fit properly.

The importance of POWER CONSUMPTION -

APPLIES TO PUMPS and FILTERS.

When it comes to POWER CONSUMPTION, this is something people hardly if ever look at.

The other day I was in the market for a return pump. I saw the sun sun variety and some unknown Chinese generic stuff. The Dollar vs Turnover of pump ration is very good!

Example: 5000lph was $99 while Via aqua was $145 for the same LPH.

Face value one would get excited. And I'm sure that many people here and out there buy from online traders and petshops that stock these Generic Chinese brands. Little do they know is that these cheap generic pumps have a big problem. It is not the reliability – Pumps are simple, to get them wrong one must be incredibly stupid. It is the power consumption.

The cheap 5000lph was rated at 150w – Via aqua was rated at 41w – Eheim pumps are even less power consumption for the same LPH rating.

The design of the pumps must be efficient to make power savings.

If you think you rather save $45 now and get something with more power consumption even t hough it is not translated to pumping energy – then you are foolish and have a false economy. The extra 100w of power use on 24/7 will end up 3 times the $45 you save. When buying filters and pumps, the power rating has to be take into account. Cost is not just the instant cost of purchase, it is the on going cost of running your tanks.

If you do the maths you will see my figures are accurate. When you buy a return pump, you are better off paying 2x for a pump that has less power use and same LPH rating than a pump that is half, even a quarter the price that has more than double power rating.

If you check out TM, and look at all the cheap pumps - you will see that some are rated to use very large amounts of power.

Hope you enjoy this thread just my observation and research recently

(and I got bored as I have a day off)

:bounce:

[acara]

Good post mate. This is something I always take into account when looking at gear,I'm setting up a shed,so wattage is very important to me.

As you've posted,I find the cheap Chinese stuff is very heavy on the leccy,I was given an external that I think is called Sun Sun in NZ,here in Ireland it is marketed under a different name. It is 35w compared to a Tetratec at 21w,and the new JBL Greenline are even less,so I will be passing it on to someone else. Another consideration with these brands is availibility of spare parts.

[Warren]

Another very important factor most people completely overlook when buying a pump is the flow curve - this shows the flow at a given head of water.

A higher wattage pump for the same flow rating at 0m head will usually pump considerably more water at 1m head than a lower wattage pump. It depends completely on the back-pressure the pump was designed to operate into. Only canister filters operate at 0m head. Sumps always operate with reasonable head (this is the distance from the water level in the sump to the point where the water exits (or to the waterlevel in the tank if the exit is under water). It's very important to check this as the flow could be less than half the 0m head flow in some cheaper pumps.

It's likely the cheaper generic pumps you've mentioned are not made to the same fine tolerance as the better quality ones. The air-gap between the motor iron-core and the impeller rotor effects the efficiency heaps. If there's a really big gap between the rotor and wall of the pump it will use more power all other factors being the same. Basically if it looks like it's really well made it will likely be more efficient.

[David R]

Its also likely (IME) that the actual flow from the more expensive pumps will be to the claimed flow at a decent head height, and will still be after 6 months, compared to the cheaper ones where the claimed flow tends to be more over-exaggerated and the decrease in performance over time greater.