Maxi-jet mods

[charlie]

Has anyone out there tried these from Premium Aquatics?

Sure Flow 1600 Kit: Premium Aquatics

I am thinking I could reduce the amount of powerheads in my 80 from 4 to 2 if these things work. I know this has been discussed before, but Not within the last moth or so. I am going to redo the plumbing on this tank anyways, so I would really appreciate some input.

[DonW]

Charlie,

I put one in my 20. I dont think they are all that much more flow but they are a different more productive flow. Since its a wider pattern it doesnt cause the bare spot in my sand. I know thats not much help, but I doubt they are good enough to get rid of half of what you have.

Don

[charlie]

That being the case, do you think that those new Hydor Koralia powerheads are worth it?

[DonW]

That being the case, do you think that those new Hydor Koralia powerheads are worth it?

Dont know first hand. I just had this discussion with a friend. He's pretty un happy in general with sieo's and hydors. After adding up all the failure he says he could have just got the plain tunze's.
I think if your going to us powerheads they are best used with a wave maker. But that bring up a whole other issue. I'm just going to stick with Mj's in my 20 and and my cool timer. If they die it wont hurt my wallet to replace one.

Don

[Samper]

A guy in the reef club here put one together and we compared it with an un modded MJ in a 20 gallon tank. The mod definately pushes more water in a wider more turbulant manner. The problem is putting it together. It looked like more trouble than it was worth. The guy did say that after you do a few it's not that bad.

I need to see some tunzes run but for now I"m liking my hydors.

[charlie]

OK, I can stick with the maxi-jets, they have been running for at least 6 years, and I agree with you that it doesn't kill your wallet to replace them. Now on to the timer, , explain that!

[charlie]

A guy in the reef club here put one together and we compared it with an un modded MJ in a 20 gallon tank. The mod definately pushes more water in a wider more turbulant manner. The problem is putting it together. It looked like more trouble than it was worth. The guy did say that after you do a few it's not that bad.

I need to see some tunzes run but for now I"m liking my hydors.

I was thinking of a couple tunze nano streams, you get alot of movement for your buck. I haven't heard much good about the Hydors, as in they quit after 6 months to a year.

[Samper]

These that I have are experimental and until they do quit I'm happy with them.

[charlie]

Which ones did you get? Do you have a pic of them in your tank so I can use that as a reference.

[DonW]

OK, I can stick with the maxi-jets, they have been running for at least 6 years, and I agree with you that it doesn't kill your wallet to replace them. Now on to the timer, , explain that!

I have a little timer. The timer pulses the mj's on and off like a wave maker. Its set to pulse every 30 seconds during the day and 1.5 minutes at night. Dont know why it just sounded cool when I was programming the timer.

Don

[charlie]

Have you seen any adverse effect on the maxijets Don. I know when I had mine on a wave maker, they started to rattle a whole bunch when they turned on. Which maxijets are you using?

[charlie]

Don, does that timer plug into the AC outlet?

[DonW]

They do get a little loud. Honestly I dont care its just my office 20. Plug into a outlet? Well sort of, if it were put in a box it could. Mine is connected to one of my power center ato's. So it just switches on and off two of the outlets on the ato with low voltage. Same for the lights and fans.

Don

[charlie]

Yeah Don, I don't think I could put up with the rattling MJ's. I will redo the plumbing with my bigger overflow, and go from there. I know that there is better flow out there, but I have not run into anything as trusty as the maxijets, they are better than Timex watches.;);)

[DonW]

Yeah Don, I don't think I could put up with the rattling MJ's. I will redo the plumbing with my bigger overflow, and go from there. I know that there is better flow out there, but I have not run into anything as trusty as the maxijets, they are better than Timex watches.;);)

That I understand, wouldnt deal with it at home but the shop is so loud it doesnt matter. Sometime soon I'll have a soft start timer that will be affordable. I think the hundreds of dollars for $5 worth of electronics is out of line.

Don

[charlie]

That's why we like you Don.

[DonW]

That's why we like you Don.

Crydom already has a sweet soft start module for $25 I think the spec is 47-60 hz. Ive got one but just havent had time to play with it to much. I did try it on a blender and it worked very nice.

Don

[charlie]

Have you heard anything about the Red Sea Wavemaker?

[DonW]

The only thing Ive heard is the soft start is not truely soft start. I think I heard some where that it started at about 55hz which is something any ssr does anyways. You need to get below 50hz to see any noticable difference.

Don

[Samper]

Charlie I got the model 4 hydors and there are pics of them here.
Hydor Koralia powerheads

I think that the guy that modded those maxi jets had to actually mod the mod so that it had a stopping mechanism for the impeller so that it doesn't start spinning backward. They may come with it now.