Koralia replacement

[shoggoth43]

I need to replace the Koralia units I have. The Koralia 1050 has a badly worn impeller and always had a nasty tendency to spin the wrong way after a power failure. The older Koralia 3/4, can't remember what it is, is starting to get a bit noisy and won't reliably start after a power failure without a nudge. It's better after a vinegar soak but I'm a little leery of it.

I'm looking for a good replacement. I've got a five foot tank so I'd like to get something that will hit the other side. I've heard that Tunze should be silent and reasonably solid and slightly more directional than the ecotec units, not to mention somewhat cheaper. Would something like the nano stream 6045 be a good fit? I can get them for

 

[scottward]

Hi Shoggoth43.

I've been using a Tunze Nanostream 6045 in my 100g tank for about 18 months now; no problems with it at all, it's great.

It's dead quiet, very easy to point up/down/left/right and also has a small lever underneath it that you can use to adjust the flow rate. I generally have mine set to full blast though.

The only maintenance I do is picking the leaves out of it and occassionally giving it a bit of a wiping over.

I'm really happy with it.

It will easily hit the other end of your 5'. My tank is 6' and it's 'fetch' (I think that's the technical term for it) makes it this far.

Scott.

 

[shoggoth43]

How are you aiming it? I was planning on trying to aim towards the front pane slightly to try and set up a gyre effect. I may just aim down the length of the back of the tank for the same effect just reversing the direction of flow. I'm not sure if only one will suffice. I did have two Koralia pumps in there at one point and things were doing a lot better. Of course my CO2 solenoid worked then and I was dosing EU regularly at that point too.

-
S

 

[captnphil]

Agreed!
Tunze is the best pump, by far.

 

[scottward]

I have mine in the right-hand top front corner of my tank (if that makes any sense), about 3-4 inches below the water surface with the output nozle level but pointing towards the front centre glass. This seems to induce a horizontal gyre type flow which seems to work ok. Knocks the stems about a little bit but not too bad. This also provides a nice gentle surface ripple.

 

[thegasman]

Tunze pumps are great. I used them in many reef tanks. With that said, I love my ecotech MP10 in my planted tank. You can't aim it, but you really don't need to. The flow is extremely wide which works great in a planted tank and it creates an impressive undertow. You can watch it pull junk off the bottom of the tank even when mounted at least a foot from the substrate. It disperses the CO2 around the tank very well. For your 5' tank, I would get the MP40 and run it on a lower setting. If you were to run an MP10 you would need to turn up the power and they can get a bit noisy when they are turned up over the 3/4 power level. Anyway, I'm sure that you will be happy with the Tunze.

 

[Dresdner]

me too looking for the same typr of replacement i would appreciate if anyone helps me with my queries..

 

[captnphil]

Mp's are very noisy..
You will say: not under 70%
then ill say:why buy a pump u cant use!
Also, bearing wears down quickly
$$$ to buy and repair
Cant upgrade the driver yourself
Need more?
Tunze

 

[thegasman]

Mp's are very noisy..
You will say: not under 70%
then ill say:why buy a pump u cant use!
Also, bearing wears down quickly
$$$ to buy and repair
Cant upgrade the driver yourself
Need more?
Tunze

Like I said, the Tunze is a great product...no complaints. With that said, the Vortech's just do a better job IMO. Knowing that they are not silent above 70%+/- max flow, just get the correct size that you can run at less than 70% and you are good to go. There's a reason why reef tank folks and planted tank folks like Tom and I use the Vortech's...they reliably get the CO2 around the tank and keep the "junk" suspended so the filter can remove it.

 

[shoggoth43]

Tunze does have a nice video on their site showing them and the vortec pumps. The stream pumps do seem to shove water along a bit further in their test tank. The vortecs have a broader flow but often seem to stall half way along the tank in the video. I have no idea if/how the dimensions of the tank might be influencing this somehow and if certain tank shapes would be more prone to this than others. I can get two stream nano 6045 pumps for the price of one mp10 though. There would be no variable flow or wave making modes though. Just two prop pumps at 1000+ GPH with presumably much better build quality than a similarly priced Koralia. This alone would be worth it to me as the Koralia units are far from quiet in my tank. My main pump hums pretty loudly though so that determines my noise floor at the moment.